The Peter Zeihan Podcast Series - North Korean Missiles Heading to Russia (Part 2!) || Peter Zeihan

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

We're back with part two of Russia's missile-sourcing escapade. Today we're looking at the specifics of these North Korean missiles and their significance. Full Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/zeihan/north-korean-missiles-heading-to-russia-part-two

Hey, everybody. Peter Zang here coming to you from, well, there's no other at Word Fort. It's a frigid Colorado this morning. We're right at two degrees Fahrenheit. Anyway, I wanted to do a follow-on to a little bit we talked yesterday on the transfer of North Korean missiles to Russia. The models in question are called KN23 and 25. They have a very limited rain. And they're not particularly accurate. When the North Koreans use them, the accuracy range is typically 100 to 200 meters. So they're not much, well, they're just not smart. Our most artillery actually hits more reliably than they do. With the add-on of satellite guidance and a little bit extra hardware, you could probably get them into the 50 to 100 meter range.

Now, this is important for two reasons. Number one, it means that every missile that the Russians fire in the general direction of a population center, which is where most of these things are being used in Ukraine is almost by definition a war crime. so, you know, we're now getting, I think we're past 150,000 documented incidents. So if the war crimes tribunals ever do happen to happen at the end of this war, there's going to be a lot to do. But the second and slightly more important in the long-range point of view is the assistance, the military assistance, the supply assistance that the North Koreans and to a lesser degree

the Iranians are providing the Russians isn't just important for the war or to get an intelligence look at what the North Korean and the, the Iranian systems can do technologically and from a production point of view. The Russians are also promising that both countries, satellite tech, or at least the ability of the Russians to launch a satellite for them. And so if you marry Russian satellite tech, which doesn't have to be top-notch to provide guidance to say weapon systems, and you apply it to these two Ligurd countries, you can actually make a fairly significant improvement in their capacity to target going from a 200-meter range

to a 100 meter range, obviously, is a significant step up. So I don't mean to belittle any part of this transfer system that is going on. It's just a question of time. Okay, that's all I got for now.