North Korean artillery to strengthen new Russian offensive
Russia, June 5, 2025 – The DPRK has recently provided significant military assistance to the Russian Federation under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty. The first phase involved the delivery of artillery ammunition in an amount estimated by Ukraine at 6-9 million pieces, or 16,000 containers by March 2025.
Later, deliveries of selected weapons and the deployment of troops to the Kursk region were added. President Putin personally thanked the DPRK for its assistance on Red Square after the parade marking the 80th anniversary of Victory Day.
Among the first to arrive on the Ukrainian battlefield were powerful long-range self-propelled guns of the 170 mm caliber Koksan, Type 73 machine guns and probably also short-range ballistic missiles KN-23, the version of which with improved guidance was recently supposed to be used again. Separate articles have been written about the mentioned weapons, the deployment of others is currently being confirmed.
1. Incorrectly described 140 mm mortars along with a controlled release of 107 mm caliber?
Two things that would not normally be related. The Russians began to report on the alleged deliveries of North Korean 140 mm caliber mortars. The caliber is written correctly. The information was supported by a photo showing the mortar and technical and tactical data in Russian. Caliber 140 mm, weight in marching/combat position 355/230 kg, minimum/maximum range 500/8000 meters, rate of fire 10-12 rounds per minute, maximum elevation angle 80°, measurement angle 5°, crew 5 people, ammunition supply 80 mines, mine weight 17.4 kg, of which the explosive weight 3.52 kg.
That will be all wrong and the parameters correspond more to a 120 mm mortar. In Ukraine, a “correction” was published, which increased the mine weight to 36.7 kg, but left the explosive weight 3.52 kg and other data. If we look at the parameters of the Soviet 160 mm mortar M-160 – mine weight 41.14 kg and the weight of the explosive charge depending on the type of mine 7.7-9 kg. The Slovak troops also had the 160 mm M-43 and M-160 mortars in their arsenal, Russia is said to still have at least 150 units of the M-160 version in stock, but has not yet used them on the Ukrainian battlefield.
As for the 140 mm mortars that the Russian troops apparently received, it would be more likely if they had a combat weight of 990 kg, a range of up to 9600 meters and a mine weight of 29 kg. Information about the mortars (M1982?) should be taken as an extreme case, when they try to disinform both sides of the conflict for as long as possible, a matter often incomprehensible to the mass media. Thinking hurts and in Slovakia especially, as if this were not enough, a photograph was attached to the information about the 140 mm mortars, which is probably not related to them and suggests the possibility that the Russian troops also received North Korean towed artillery rocket launchers of 107 mm caliber, licensed copies of the Chinese Type 63.
The upper edge of the photograph is interesting, where it is difficult to see anything other than the chassis of the Type 63 rocket launcher and below it will probably be accessories and the rocket launcher’s firing counter. This would probably be an even more advantageous purchase for Russia than 140 mm mortars, but the ammunition stocks for both weapons will be enormous in the DPRK. A separate article was written about the 107 mm caliber.
2. Type 63 is not the same as Type 63
The difficulty from the first chapter is exacerbated by the fact that in addition to the globally widespread 107 mm towed rocket launcher, there is also an assault rifle, a tracked armored personnel carrier or, for example, a 60 mm lightweight portable mortar Type 63. A North Korean copy of which was already observed in the armament of the elite Pskov 76th Guards Airborne Assault Division, which is often accused by Ukraine of responsibility for the Buch massacre.
At the end of the Cold War, neither the Russian nor the Soviet troops used mortars of caliber less than 82 mm, 60 mm was the NATO caliber and was increasingly used in the armament of special forces in addition to regular ground troops. According to available information, the Slovak troops were armed with Israeli 60 mm mortars CO-8 from Elbit Systems. In recent times, it has been possible to observe statements by Russian soldiers about cooperation with North Korean troops in the battles in the Kursk region, and among the mentioned topics was the surprising effectiveness of 60 mm mortars for Russian soldiers. Until then, they had only seen captured Western or Ukrainian models of 60 mm mortars. In addition, stocks of used 60 mm mines were increasing.
Another obvious factor for the Russian acquisition decision is the easy portability of these weapons, which is now an advantage in a situation where vehicles have difficulty approaching the line of combat contact due to drone attacks. The Chinese Type 63 mortar was considered a copy of the American M2, which had been in use since World War II. Its total weight was 19 kg, the mine weight was 1.33 kg, and the firing range was 1815 m. The technical and tactical data of the North Korean 60 mm mortars are unknown.
3. Confirmed use of 240 mm M-1991 artillery rocket launchers
The first reports about the possibility of sending these rocket launchers from the DPRK to Russia appeared in September 2024. In early December 2024, Forbes magazine reported on this again. In April 2025, footage appeared of Russian soldiers preparing the rocket launcher for combat, installing comprehensive protection against drones, despite the mobility and decent range of these systems.
A little later, their first combat deployment was recorded. The video also contains relatively detailed information about this reactive artillery system. The weight of the explosive in the aforementioned warhead is 45 kg. However, the rocket launcher is more similar to the Soviet BM-27 Uragan rocket launchers than the BM-30 Smerch.
Not long after the first combat deployment, an unverified loss of the M1991 was allegedly reported, for example, open source intelligence ORYX does not record any losses North Korean artillery rocket launcher on the Ukrainian battlefield.
In any case, according to Ukrainian data, Russia was to receive 120 M1991 artillery rocket launchers of 240 mm caliber and the same number of Koksan self-propelled guns of 170 mm caliber (ORYX confirmed the loss of one Koksan gun on 13.4.2025 – FPV drones). However, during the transport of one batch of these artillery systems, something else appeared on the flatbed trucks.
4. Polar Star instead of Orešnik?
Although the video has been around for several months, the deployment of North Korean Pukguksong-2 (KN-15) intermediate-range ballistic missiles has not yet been recorded on the Ukrainian battlefield. However, in April 2025, the commander of INDOPACOM, US Admiral Samuel Papapro, stated that Russia had received “hundreds” of intermediate-range ballistic missiles from the DPRK.
What can I add? The Czech ammunition initiative is working excellently. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this during his recent visit to Prague. It should not be translated into Korean.
