“The DPRK is handing over its most powerful Koksan self-propelled guns to Russia. What it can lead to — an analysis by BBC Ukraine November 19, 20:07 Share: 170-mm North Korean Koksan self-propelled artillery installations on parade in North Korea in 2017. Recently, these self-propelled guns were spotted on Russian echelons (Photo: North Korean Central Television) Russia began to receive from North Korea its most powerful large-caliber artillery – the M1989 Koksan self-propelled guns. What does transmission mean?”, — write on: ua.news
The DPRK is handing over its most powerful Koksan self-propelled guns to Russia. What can this lead to – an analysis by BBC Ukraine 170-mm North Korean Koksan self-propelled artillery units on parade in North Korea in 2017. Recently, these self-propelled guns were spotted on Russian echelons (Photo: North Korean Central Television)
Russia began receiving its most powerful large-caliber artillery from North Korea, the M1989 Koksan self-propelled guns. What does the transfer of such weapons mean, the journalist of BBC Ukraine, Serhiy Morfinov, told. NV publishes his material under the rights of information cooperation.
Recently, two such “self-propelled cars” were spotted on railway cars in the East Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.
After massive deliveries of shells, KN-23 ballistic missiles and likely deployment of troops to Russia, North Korea has taken another step of direct military support for the Kremlin.
At the same time, the appearance is possible “Koksaniv” of the Russians almost coincided in time with reports in the Western press about the US permission to strike Ukraine deep into Russian territory. However, the US has not officially confirmed this.
Why do the Russians need North Korean self-propelled guns, how can they be used at the front, and can they influence South Korea’s decision to directly supply arms to Ukraine?
What is known about the Koksans
“Koksan” is a 170-mm self-propelled artillery installation, an analogue of the Soviet large-caliber 2S7 “Pion” and 2S7M “Malka” systems.
Such guns are considered one of the most powerful and long-range types of weapons in the barrel artillery class.
Firing range “Koksaniv” — up to 40 km, and when using projectiles with a jet accelerator — up to 60 km.
The North Koreans began developing these systems around the 1970s (there are no exact data on North Korean weapons) with the main goal of creating an immediate threat of shelling of Seoul.
It is 39 km from the capital of South Korea to the demilitarized zone on the border with North Korea, and even less from the outskirts.
In 1978, American intelligence first discovered the then-new self-propelled installations of the DPRK in the North Korean area of Koksan. They received the name M1978 Koksan in Western sources.
“Koksan” was a fairly simple design – a long 170-mm gun mounted on an open platform without superstructures and additional armor on the chassis of the tank “Type 59″ (the Chinese version of the Soviet T-54).
The M1978 Koksan could accommodate only two people, and the rest of the crew had to ride in an accompanying car, which also carried ammunition.
Later it became known that these self-propelled guns have a rather low rate of fire — 1-2 shots per 5 minutes.
But despite all the shortcomings, thanks to the large caliber and long range, these systems performed their main task – creating a threat “sea of fire” for Seoul and the rest of the South Korean border.
This is regularly demonstrated during large-scale exercises, the footage of which is distributed by North Korean propaganda.
In the 1980s, a modernization of the “Koksans” appeared – M1989 Koksan, where the gun was mounted on the chassis of the Soviet artillery tractor ATS-59.
This made it possible to place the entire calculation directly in the ACS itself, as well as to transport 12 shells on it.
Single use “Koksans” in the conditions of real combat took place in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war – the DPRK then supplied the M1978 Koksan to Iran.
Several units eventually became trophies of the Iraqis, and already after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, these trophy “Coxans” reached the United States, which was able to examine them.
How many “Koksaniv” is in the North Korean army, it is unknown. We are talking about hundreds of units of both versions.
Coxans in Russia
On November 14, 2024, an image appeared on Russian social networks “Koksaniv”, which are transported by railway.
One of the first photos of the North Korean self-propelled guns in poor quality was published by a Russian pro-war Telegram channel “Voivode Veschaet”.
“We have an ally who fulfills the agreements, for which we thank him very much,” the post read.
Later, the same image appeared in better quality. It shows at least two Coxans in the newer M1989 version.
OSINT analyst “Status-6″ was able to geolocate the location of the shooting – a railway crossing in the center of the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk.
When exactly the photo was taken and how many units of North Korean self-propelled guns were transported by that echelon is unknown.
“Why can the DPRK give Moscow both shells and howitzers? Because their military strategy has evolved over the past 35 years,” explains the fund’s military analyst “Come back alive” Mykola Beleskov.
“Previously, Pyongyang relied on barrel and rocket artillery to create in case of anything “sea of fire”, which could affect Seoul as well. Now, the DPRK has a full line of ballistic missiles and materials for 70 special warheads, which reduces the need to maintain the capability for conventional “sea of fire,” he writes.
Why are they in Russia and what consequences can there be
Having such long-range systems with a range of 40-60 km, Russian troops will be able to do what the North Koreans did with Seoul – create a threat “sea of fire” for large Ukrainian border cities.
First of all, Kharkiv and Sumy, which are located 30-40 km from the border with the Russian Federation. And also front-line cities in the near rear, such as Mykolaiv.
The only difference from Seoul is that the Russians are already regularly shelling these cities with drones, ballistic missiles, and anti-aircraft missiles.
With the appearance of North Korean self-propelled guns among Zagr Artillery fire may also be added.
In general, the “Koksans” are obviously considered by the Russians as a replacement for those “Pions” of theirs that are out of order.
The latter, although they have a slightly shorter firing range (35 km with high-explosive fragmentation projectiles and 45 km with active-reactive ones), but significantly more rapid – capable of firing up to 2.5 shots per minute.
However, given the problems with the production of barrels for self-propelled guns “Peony” and “Malka” (during the years 2022−2023, the Russians actively replaced the barrels with them not with new ones, but with ones removed from conservation), replenishment “Koksanamy” looks like a logical step.
And there is another motive for engaging North Korean long-range systems.
““Koksans” are useful for the Russians not only to replenish the fleet of Pion self-propelled guns that have been retired for various reasons, but also because they need large-caliber artillery for counter-battery combat,” says Ivan Kyrychevsky, an expert of the Defense Express information and consulting agency, in a conversation with the BBC.
The Armed Forces have samples of Western artillery, which in terms of range exceed most Soviet and Russian systems (for example PzH 2000). At the expense of “Koksaniv” the Russians hope to level this factor.
This was immediately announced by the Russian “militants”.
“We are not hinting at anything, but by the range of fire “Koksan” surpasses any “NATO’s “barrel artillery gun”, wrote Oleksandr Kots, who mentioned the possibility of transferring these systems to Russia as early as June of this year.
Finally, the question arises whether they will enter “Koksans” as part of the units of the 10-12 thousand North Korean group that Pyongyang has probably already sent to Russia.
“These may be artillery units, which will be staffed by North Korean soldiers and officers. And “Koksans” will be used by their contingent, which is already deployed in Russia,” the portal’s reviewer suggests “Military” Vadim Kushnikov.
At the same time, Ivan Kyrychevsky does not consider the question of who exactly will be included in the calculations of the “Koksans” – Russians or North Koreans – because the training of such personnel can be quite fast.
“For the Russians, even at TOS-1 “Solntsepek”, the training course lasts several weeks,” he notes.
In October, there was already information that Russian military personnel from the restored Higher Artillery Command School in Saratov had begun training on North Korean self-propelled guns. Probably, it was about preparation for use of the M1989 Koksan.
In general, the most important question remains how much “Russia could already receive Koksanov, and how many more can Pyongyang transfer.
“We can only record the fact that the Russians have an unknown number of such artillery installations. We have to wait for something more substantive than just a photo,” emphasizes Ivan Kyrychevskyi.
And the British edition of the Financial Times, citing sources in Ukrainian intelligence, reports that in recent weeks, North Korea has transferred to Russia about 50 self-propelled guns M1989 Koksan, as well as 20 modernized 240-mm rocket salvo systems.
In parallel with this, news about a possible supply “Koksaniv” of the Russian Federation actually coincided in time with the joint statement of the United States, Japan and South Korea from November 15 about the condemnation “North Korea’s decision to send troops to Russia to fight against Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s cooperation with South Korea
The main opponent of the DPRK, South Korea, distanced itself from the beginning from possible military support for Ukraine in the war against Russia, although the country is one of the world leaders in the development of high-tech types of weapons.
Seoul explained this by the fact that such support could lead to Moscow transferring technologies and other means that would strengthen the North Korean army.
However, the strategic partnership agreement between Russia and the DPRK concluded in June 2024 and the increasing involvement of North Korea in the Russian-Ukrainian war could not but affect Seoul’s position.
After all, it was South Korean intelligence that became one of the sources of information about sending North Korean troops to Russia.
Later, the media even reported that Seoul would consider the possibility of supplying lethal weapons to Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyi announced the arrival of a group of specialists with experience working with the DPRK.
At the same time, according to Bloomberg, the victory of Donald Trump in the US elections “prompts South Korea to reconsider the possibility of sending weapons directly to Ukraine.”
Appearance of self-propelled guns “Koksan” from the Russians could theoretically become another argument for Seoul to lift the moratorium on the supply of arms to Ukraine.
For example, the K239 Chunmoo volley fire systems, which are armed with guided missiles with a range of up to 80 km and which were specially developed to counter North Korean artillery.
“But to begin with, Ukraine needs to ask for these weapons from South Korea – to articulate at the official level what we need,” emphasizes Ivan Kyrychevskyi.
“A photo from social networks showing several “Koksans” in Krasnoyarsk is unlikely to lead to the fact that South Korea will start massively transferring K239 to Ukraine solely on its own initiative. Despite the fact that even the Poles received only 12 such missile systems under commercial contracts, because they are not produced quickly,” he adds.
And he draws attention to the fact that Ukraine should have started work on finding opportunities for arms contracts with South Korea even earlier.
At the same time, at the end of October, that is, before the information about the self-propelled guns appeared “Koksan” in Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in an interview with the South Korean TV channel KBS that Ukraine is preparing a detailed request to Seoul regarding weapons.
This request should be voiced by the official representative of Ukraine, who will come to South Korea “in the near future”.
It can be assumed that after evidence of the transfer of “Koksans” to Russia appeared, the K239 systems will also be mentioned in the request voiced by Kyiv.
“We will talk [з Південною Кореєю] about weapons I don’t know what South Korea will say to me. But we would very much like to be helped,” noted Volodymyr Zelenskyi.
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