AS North Korea despot Kim Jong-un announced he could now reach London and Washington DC with nuclear missiles it emerged the Kremlin may have knowingly allowed the supply of advanced rocket technology to the rogue state.
The engines in Hwasong-12, Hwasong-14 and yesterday’s Hwansong-15, which proved North Korea could now land a nuclear-armed missile on mainland USA, are close copies of a Soviet-era RD-250 powerplant experts say, which some sources claim was supplied with Vladimir Putin’s knowledge.
And North Korea’s unprecedented leap from primitive Scud-like rockets to full-on space-capable Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles in just two years has led further experts to conclude that the technology MUST have been smuggled in.
Moscow is known to have supplied technology for the regime’s dated Scud missiles in the 1980s and 1990s.
The same Scud-style technology was used in North Korea’s flop Musudan missile – which until 2016 was the unconvincing pinnacle of Kim Jong-un’s nuclear programme.
But yesterday’s launch of the Hwasong-15 showed a massive technological leap which might have been expected to take a decade of more.
According to South Korean intelligence, North Korea received 20 to 40 RD-251 engines from Russia in 2016 – enabling the dramatic technological achievement.
And in a recent report for the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Michael Elleman Senior Fellow for Missile Defence said: “Musudan, that repeatedly failed flight tests, has suddenly been supplemented by two new missiles: the intermediate-range Hwasong-12 and the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Hwasong-14.
“No other country has transitioned from a medium-range capability to an ICBM in such a short time.
“What explains this rapid progression? The answer is simple. North Korea has acquired a high-performance liquid-propellant engine (LPE) from a foreign source.
“Available evidence clearly indicates that the LPE is based on the Soviet RD-250 family of engines, and has been modified to operate as the boosting force for the Hwasong-12 and -14.
“An unknown number of these engines were probably acquired though illicit channels operating in Russia and or Ukraine.”
Elleman’s claims have sparked a war of words between Ukraine and Russia over who was to blame for the murky transaction.
Other experts claim that neither state knew and that it was simply the act of ruthless black-market arms dealers.
Moscow analyst Aleksandr Nemets has claimed Moscow is heavily involved in both the rocket program of North Korea claiming that Vladimir Putin rather than Kim Jong-un is pulling the strings.
Referring to the liquid-fuelled Musudan he said: “Even this primitive result would have been impossible without very intensive Russian assistance, especially in 2015-2016.
“Why did Moscow feel compelled to provide this? Obviously not for money. Beyond any doubt, Moscow’s goal was the infliction of maximum harm on America.”
Authorities in both Russia and Ukraine use the fact the North Korean rocket uses a single rocket engine rather than the two or even three in the Soviet version to dismiss the allegations.
Bu Mr Elleman pointed out the technological know-how to do that was only available in Russia and Ukraine.
He said: “Such expertise is available at Russia’s Energomash concern and Ukraine’s KB Yuzhnoye.
“One has to conclude that the modified engines were made in those factories.”
Both Energomash and KB Yuzhnoye have strenuously denied any involvement.
The RD-250 was a very successful rocket engine in its day and incorporated into the first stage of the R-36 (SS-9) Soviet ICBM and the Tsiklon-2 satellite launcher by KB Yuzhnoye of Ukraine.
The Tsiklon-2 had more than 100 successful launches but was superceded and the firm ran into difficulties.
But hundreds of RD-250 engines and spare parts were left in storage – only loosely guarded as they were worth little more than their scrap value.
Oleksandr Turchynov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, attributed the claims against Ukraine to Russian intelligence.
He said: “Ukraine has never supplied rocket engines or any kind of missile technology to North Korea.
“We believe that this anti-Ukrainian campaign was provoked by the Russian special services to cover up their own participation in the North Korean nuclear and missile programs.”