How Did North Korea, Which Imported Missile Technology from Iran, End Up Re-exporting It?

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] International interest in North Korea's missile technology has surged again after it was revealed that the ballistic missiles used by Iran to attack U.S. military bases in Iraq earlier this month were modeled after North Korean missiles. It is known that North Korea acquired independent missile technology by importing and upgrading Soviet-made missiles in Syria during the Middle East wars in the 1970s, and has been re-exporting these technologies back to the Middle East.

According to foreign media such as Voice of America (VOA), the 15 missiles launched by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at two U.S. military bases in Iraq on the 8th (local time) are estimated to be missiles made using North Korean technology. In the 'Missile Defense Review Report' released by the U.S. Department of Defense in January last year, it was stated that North Korea may have attempted to sell missile technology while assisting Iran and Syria with their missile programs. Earlier, in 2012, a report submitted by the U.S. Secretary of Defense to Congress mentioned that North Korea was a country selling missiles to Iran.

North Korea is known to have acquired Soviet-made Scud missiles in the Middle East, upgraded them, and re-exported them to the region. During the 1973 Fourth Middle East War, North Korea imported Soviet-made Scud-B missiles as military support to Syria, and based on these, developed ballistic missiles such as Hwasong-5, Hwasong-6, and Rodong-1.

Not only ballistic missiles but also North Korean weapons are popular among Middle Eastern rebel groups because they are inexpensive and structurally simple, making them less prone to failure even in the harsh electronic environments of the Middle East. According to a report released in 2017 by the expert panel of the UN Security Council's 2140 Yemen Sanctions Committee, it was confirmed that the Houthi rebels in Yemen possessed North Korean Type 73 machine guns, and more than 90 Scud missiles, copies of North Korea’s Hwasong-5 missile, were supplied to Yemen.

These weapons were transported to Yemen via Iran and are believed to have been either directly imported from North Korea or produced in Iran using technology transferred from North Korea. Earlier, in August 2016, a North Korean cargo ship was intercepted near the Suez Canal in Egypt, carrying 30,000 rocket-propelled grenades. These weapons are known to be exported to rebel groups across the Middle East and North Africa.