NY Times, North Koreas Missile Success Is Linked to Ukrainian Plant, Investigators Say

[Botany]

“It’s likely that these engines came from Ukraine

Putin is behind N. Korea getting more advanced ICBMs ….. a few years ago they couldn’t get their missiles to go a few hundred miles and now they have global reach? Putin is gas lighting all of us and trying to take the pressure off of the Trump/Russia investigations.

NY Times https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/world/asia/north-korea-missiles-ukraine-factory.html


The studies may solve the mystery of how North Korea began succeeding so suddenly after a string of fiery missile failures, some of which may have been caused by American sabotage of its supply chains and cyberattacks on its launches. After those failures, the North changed designs and suppliers in the past two years, according to a new study by Michael Elleman, a missile expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

snip

Analysts who studied photographs of the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, inspecting the new rocket motors concluded that they derive from designs that once powered the Soviet Union’s missile fleet. The engines were so powerful that a single missile could hurl 10 thermonuclear warheads between continents.

Those engines were linked to only a few former Soviet sites. Government investigators and experts have focused their inquiries on a missile factory in Dnipro, Ukraine, on the edge of the territory where Russia is fighting a low-level war to break off part of Ukraine. During the Cold War, the factory made the deadliest missiles in the Soviet arsenal, including the giant SS-18. It remained one of Russia’s primary producers of missiles even after Ukraine gained independence.

snip

But since Ukraine’s pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, was removed from power in 2014, the state-owned factory, known as Yuzhmash, has fallen on hard times. The Russians canceled upgrades of their nuclear fleet. The factory is underused, awash in unpaid bills and low morale. Experts believe it is the most likely source of the engines that in July powered the two ICBM tests, which were the first to suggest that North Korea has the range, if not necessarily the accuracy or warhead technology, to threaten American cities.

“It’s likely that these engines came from Ukraine — probably illicitly,” Mr. Elleman said in an interview. “The big question is how many they have and whether the Ukrainians are helping them now. I’m very worried.”

[FarCenter]

1. Probably as much due to our meddling in Ukraine as Russias

Dnipro is about 100 miles from the front lines with the breakaway region in Donetsk and completely "controlled" by the Ukrainian government. It is not "on the edge of the territory".

On the other hand political instability in Ukraine has meant that there is little or no continuing need for their aerospace design and manufacturing businesses. Therefore, there are probably lots of Ukrainian engineers willing to work for the North Koreans. Allegedly, the North pays well -- much better than starving in Ukraine.