Research expert tells UN he has 'irrefutably established' that missile debris in Ukraine is North Korean

Jonah Leff, executive director of Conflict Armament Research, presented the council with a detailed analysis of the remains of the missile that struck Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, on January 2.

He said the organization documented the missile's rocket engine, tail and nearly 300 components manufactured by 26 companies from eight countries and territories, and determined that the missile was either a KN-23 or a KN-24 manufactured in 2023 in the DPRK.

The organization reached its conclusion based on the unique characteristics of the missile: its diameter, the distinct vane actuators that direct the thrust and trajectory of the missile, the pattern around the igniter, the presence of Korean characters on some rocket components and other marks and components dating from the period. until 2023, he said.

“Following initial documentation, our teams inspected three more identical DPRK missiles that struck Kyiv and Zaporizhia earlier this year,” Leff said. They also observed other conventional weapons, including an artillery rocket produced in 1977, “which had been seized on the front lines and had not previously been observed on the battlefield in Ukraine,” that were manufactured by the DPRK and may have been part of a recent larger shipment of ballistic missiles.

The council discussed illegal arms transfers from North Korea at the request of France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The meeting follows Russia's veto on March 28 of a U.N. panel's suspension of monitoring of sanctions against North Korea over its expanding nuclear program. The United States and its European and Asian allies accuse Moscow of seeking to avoid scrutiny because it violates sanctions by buying weapons from Pyongyang for its war in Ukraine.

UN disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu told the council on Friday that before its mandate expires, the group of experts was examining a report from Ukraine on missile debris it had recovered “following information about short-range ballistic missiles manufactured in the DPRK and used by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine.”

As the experts' mandate, extended since 2009 with Russian support, ended, Nakamitsu said it was “important to note” that the Security Council committee responsible for monitoring the implementation of sanctions against the DPRK “continues its work and will supervise the implementation of the sanctions regime”.

U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood called Leff's presentation, with its many technical details, “completely compelling” and told the Council that while Russia may have ended surveillance of the panel with the ” tacit support” from China, the presentation showed that Moscow and Beijing “cannot prevent the public from learning about illegal arms transfers taking place between the DPRK and Russia.”

He said the independent findings of Leff's research organization corroborate open source reporting and analysis. He added that in addition to the dozens of missiles Russia transferred from the DPRK, it also illegally transferred more than 11,000 containers of munitions.

“As a permanent member of the Security Council, Russia has a responsibility to maintain and strengthen international peace and security,” Mr. Wood said. “And yet Russia is launching ballistic missiles, which it illegally purchased from the DPRK, against the Ukrainian people. »

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia accused the meeting's Western sponsors of attempting to use the Security Council “to push an anti-Russian and anti-North Korean narrative and to spread baseless accusations in order to deflect attention to their own destructive actions that are fomenting escalation in the region.”

He called claims that Russia used DPRK missiles in Ukraine “absolutely false,” calling into question the professionalism and expertise of those who examined the wreckage in Ukraine.

Nebenzia accused the United States of constantly intensifying the militarization of the Asia-Pacific region and said that Washington's policy of “extended deterrence” on Russia's eastern border “poses a real threat not only to the DPRK but also for our country.”

According to him, the objective of the strategic partnership agreement signed on June 19 by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is to “play a stabilizing role in Northeast Asia in a context of “unprecedented escalation of tensions”. As for Article 4 of the agreement, which provides for the provision of mutual military assistance if one of the two countries is the victim of an armed attack, he said that this should not give rise to “concerns related to national security” for countries that do not plan to attack the DPRK.

North Korea's U.N. ambassador, Kim Song, called the United States “the world's largest arms exporter” and accused Western countries that convened the council meeting of being “the main guilty” of the disruption of world peace. They caused “tragic bloodshed due to massive arms shipments” and cast “a cloud of war over every corner of the world.”

Song detailed U.S. arms shipments to South Korea and Japan and accused the United States and its supporters of trying to hinder the development of DPRK-Russia relations. He defended those relations as “entirely peaceful and defensive in nature.”

China's deputy ambassador to the UN, Geng Shuang, has warned that peace and security across Northeast Asia would be affected if “more chaos” breaks out on the Korean Peninsula.

He called on all parties to be “rational and pragmatic” and “work together to calm the situation.”

China will play “a constructive role” in achieving long-term peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, Geng said, and he called on the United States to end its pressure campaign against the DPRK and “myth of deterrence”, and to demonstrate their sincerity by holding an unconditional dialogue “through concrete actions”.

U.S. envoy Wood retorted: “If China is really that concerned about the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, then it should use its influence with the DPRK to persuade it not to undermine regional and global security.”

“It should also use the leverage it has with Russia through its new 'No Limits' partnership to end this increasingly dangerous military cooperation between the DPRK and Russia,” he said.