Hwasong-11A (KN-23): North Korea's ballistic missile used by Russia

The Hwasong-11A is a North Korean single-stage, solid-fuelled short-range ballistic missile¹, designated KN-23 by the United States and 19-1 by South Korea, and called Kimskander by analysts for its likeness to the Russian Iskander. CSIS describes a missile that flies a quasi-ballistic trajectory² with a maximum range of 690 km. North Korea has supplied it to Russia, and UN sanctions monitors confirmed that debris from a strike on Kharkiv on 2 January 2024 came from a Hwasong-11 series missile³.

Design and development

North Korea first showed the missile in a parade on 8 February 2018, on wheeled launchers. It was first tested near Wonsan on 4 May 2019, reaching an apogee of 60 km and range of 240 km², and by 17 May United States Forces Korea had designated it KN-23. North Korean media called it a “tactical guided weapon” for years; the official name Hwasong-11A, sometimes romanised Hwasong-11Ga, was confirmed at an exhibition in July 2023¹.

The missile is roughly comparable to Russia’s Iskander-M and South Korea’s Hyunmoo-2B, and analysts dispute whether it was built with foreign help; others point to its elongated cable raceway and smooth base² as signs of domestic design. Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence examined parts of missiles that struck Kharkiv in January 2024 and concluded that it is not a direct copy⁴ of the Iskander’s 9M723 nor made under licence, though North Korea appears to have modified an early Iskander design. Its engineers found engines about one and a half times larger than the Russian counterpart, components soldered with methods some 50 years out of date, and civilian parts likely bought around sanctions.

Specifications

Estimates vary. CSIS lists the KN-23 at approximately 7.5 m long², 0.95 m in diameter and 3,415 kg, carrying a 500 kg warhead to 450 km or a lighter payload to 690 km. Other estimates give 8.77 m and 1.1 m¹, a launch mass of up to 8,729 kg and an assessed maximum range of 900 km. Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence measured a diameter of 110 cm at the rear⁴, narrowing to 90 cm at the front, a figure it says no other country uses.

The missile has a single solid-propellant stage, and its maximum flight altitude is believed to be 50 to 60 km. CSIS notes an apparent pull-up manoeuvre in its terminal phase², as on the Iskander-M. Guidance is inertial, possibly with satellite navigation¹.

Launch platforms

The Hwasong-11A is fired from four-axle wheeled or tracked launchers¹ that each carry two missiles. North Korea also launched it from a railway car in September 2021 and January 2022, and from an underground silo at the Sohae site in March 2023. CSIS recorded launches from a wheeled transporter-erector-launcher² in July 2019.

Operators and combat use

North Korea and Russia are the listed users¹. The UN monitors’ report of April 2024 said trajectory data from Ukrainian authorities showed the Kharkiv missile was launched within the territory of the Russian Federation³, and the United States had accused Russia that February of firing North Korean ballistic missiles at Ukraine on at least nine occasions.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said in 2024 that the first missiles deviated by a few kilometres and that around half malfunctioned. Two senior Ukrainian sources later told Reuters that North Korean missiles fired since late December had landed within 50-100m of the intended target⁶, and in June 2025⁵ Ukraine’s intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said Russian and North Korean specialists had increased the accuracy many times.

In August 2026 a spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence said a North Korean missile unit, believed to have six launchers and 120 ballistic missiles, was deploying in Russia’s Voronezh Oblast and that a strike on 30 July near Kryvyi Rih was the first use of North Korean missiles since August 2025. Reuters reported that Russia had already received 40 of the missiles⁷. Ukraine’s Air Force reports the type together with the Iskander-M⁸ and reported that Ukraine’s Defence Forces destroyed 11 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles⁹ in October 2026. In the night to 7 November it listed the KN-23 with the Zircon and the S-400¹⁰ among missiles launched from Bryansk and Voronezh regions¹¹. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that night’s attack used 36 missiles on a ballistic trajectory¹², four of them intercepted, and that early findings showed KN-23s had hit a key energy facility.

Variants

Besides the base missile, the family includes a larger-warhead version¹, the Hwasong-11C, as well as a smaller version and an underwater-launched version. The rail-borne and silo-based launches appeared to use the baseline missile. The KN-24, or Hwasong-11B, is a separate solid-fuel missile that Kyiv Independent calls broadly similar to the ATACMS⁷; Russia has fired both at Ukraine.

Similar weapons

• 9K720 Iskander⁸: the Russian system whose Iskander-M missile the KN-23 resembles; CSIS notes both can reach around 700 km² with a reduced payload.
• Hyunmoo-2B: the South Korean ballistic missile with roughly comparable specifications².
• Kh-47M2 Kinzhal: Russia’s air-launched ballistic missile, which Militarnyi says was developed on the basis¹³ of the Iskander-M.