Debris from a missile that landed in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on January 2 came from a North Korean Hwasong-11 ballistic missile, UN sanctions monitors said in a report to a Security Council committee on Monday. Reuters, quoted by News.ro.
In the 32-page report seen by Reuters, UN experts who monitor sanctions compliance concluded that “debris recovered from a missile that landed in Kharkiv, Ukraine on January 2, 2024, came from a Hwasong-series missile 11 of the DPRK” and violates the arms embargo imposed on North Korea.
Officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), North Korea has been under UN sanctions over its ballistic and nuclear programs since 2006, and these measures have been strengthened over the years.
Three sanctions monitors traveled to Ukraine earlier this month to inspect the debris and found no evidence that the missile was made by Russia. They “could not independently identify where the missile was launched from or by whom,” the report said.
“The trajectory information provided by Ukrainian authorities indicates that it was launched from the territory of the Russian Federation,” they wrote in a report dated April 25 to the Security Council’s North Korea Sanctions Committee.
“Such a location, if the missile was under the control of Russian forces, would likely indicate that it was acquired by citizens of the Russian Federation,” they said, adding that this would be a violation of the arms embargo on Korea. from the North in 2006.
The Russian and North Korean missions to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report by those monitoring the sanctions, Reuters said.
The United States and other countries have accused North Korea of transferring weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine. Both Moscow and Pyongyang have denied the accusations, but pledged last year to deepen military ties.
At a UN Security Council meeting in February, the US accused Russia of launching DPRK-supplied ballistic missiles against Ukraine on at least nine occasions.
UN observers said the Hwasong-11 series ballistic missiles were first publicly tested by Pyongyang in 2019.
Last month, Russia exercised its right to veto the annual renewal of the mandate of experts monitoring UN sanctions. They have been monitoring the implementation of UN sanctions on North Korea through its nuclear and ballistic programs for 15 years. The mandate of the current group of experts will expire on Tuesday.
Days after the January 2 attack, the prosecutor’s office in the Kharkiv region released fragments of the missile to the media, saying it was different from Russian models and that it “may be a missile that was supplied by North Korea.”
