North Spent 78 Billion Won on January Missile Launch

North Korea fired another projectile into the East Sea on the 30th. This marks the seventh show of force since the beginning of the new year, coming just three days after launching two ground-to-ground tactical guided missiles on the 27th. The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced in a text message sent to the press corps at 7:57 a.m. that North Korea had fired an unidentified projectile into the East Sea. The photo shows citizens watching the related news at Seoul Station on the same day. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] It is estimated that the cost of missiles North Korea launched from the beginning of this year could reach up to 78 billion KRW.

Bruce Bennett, Senior Researcher at the U.S. RAND Corporation, appeared on Voice of America (VOA) on the 11th and said, "The estimated cost for North Korea to launch a missile is 10 to 15 million USD for medium-range missiles and 3 to 5 million USD for short-range missiles." Converted to Korean won, this amounts to approximately 12 to 18 billion KRW and 3.6 to 6 billion KRW respectively.

VOA estimated that North Korea spent between 40 million and 65 million USD (approximately 48 to 78 billion KRW) to launch a total of 11 missiles last month, including 10 short-range and 1 medium-range missile over 7 occasions. Two cruise missiles with a flight range of 1800 km were counted as short-range. Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) are analyzed to cost between 20 to 30 million USD (approximately 24 to 36 billion KRW) per launch.

Considering that the international rice benchmark price, based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is currently 430 USD (516,000 KRW) per ton for Thai rice, VOA calculated that the missile costs could have purchased 150,000 tons of rice.

Recently, Japanese media cited a United Nations expert panel report stating, "It appears that North Korea's illegal acquisition of cryptocurrency continues," introducing the report's content that from 2020 to mid-2021, North Korea stole over 50 million USD (approximately 60 billion KRW) worth of cryptocurrency from at least three virtual currency exchanges located in North America, Europe, and Asia.