North Korea is expanding a weapons plant that manufactures missiles used by Russia against Ukraine, according to new research from a US-based think tank. The facility produces both KN-23 missiles (Hwasong-11A) and KN-24 missiles (Hwasong-11B), according to researchers at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Located in the country’s second-largest city, Hamhung, the factory has been visited several times by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with North Korean state media previously touting its mass-production of tactical missiles. Ukraine has been hit by a recent surge in Russian ballistic missile attacks, about a third of which used North Korean weapons, according to Ukrainian military officials. Moscow and Pyongyang have also deepened their military ties to a level unseen since the Cold War, including agreeing to a mutual defense pact earlier this year and sending North Korean troops to help fight against Ukraine…
