UNITED NATIONS — North Korea demonstrated this year that it can produce ballistic missiles within months and deliver them to Russia for use against Ukraine, the head of a research organization that tracks weapons used in the war said on Wednesday.
Jonah Leff told the UN Security Council that investigators at the scene were examining the remains of four missiles North Korea restored in Ukraine in July and August, including one with markings indicating it was produced in 2024.
“This is the first public evidence that missiles were produced in North Korea and then deployed in Ukraine within months,” he said.
Leff had also inquired the Security Council at the end of June, He told members that the organization he heads, Conflict Armament Research, had “irrefutably” established that ballistic missile remains found in Ukraine early this year came from a missile manufactured in North Korea.
The British-based organization, which was founded in 2011 to document and track weapons used in conflict to help governments counter diversion and proliferation, has been working in Ukraine since 2018.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised his country would do just that “Over and over again in support” of the Russian war in Ukraine when he met The Russian defense chief Northern state media reported at the end of November.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia objected to Leff’s second appearance at the council meeting, chaired by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield of the United States, who holds the council’s rotating chairmanship this month.
He claimed that Leff represents NATO and the European Union, and questioned whether his organization could provide unbiased assessments. And he accused Thomas-Greenfield of violating Security Council practices and turning his meetings “into a politicized act of buffoonery.”
The US ambassador responded that Russia had vetoed a resolution ending the monitoring of sanctions on North Korea by UN experts, which she said made organizations such as Conflict Armament Research and its independent, well-regarded experts all the more critical makes.
She said the reports showed why Russia was determined to block the extension of the UN experts’ mandate. Russia and North Korea “are engaged in unlawful arms transfers and training in blatant violation of numerous council resolutions,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
Leff stood by the organization’s research, saying the analysis highlights three observations about North Korea’s missile activities.
It confirms the continued use of newly produced North Korean ballistic missiles in Ukraine, he said, and the discovery of the 2024 production mark on one missile reveals the very short period between the production of these ballistic missiles, their transfer and final use in Ukraine.
Leff also said the presence of recently produced non-North Korea missile parts, some with 2023 production marks, “illustrates North Korea’s robust acquisition network for its ballistic missile program, despite U.N. sanctions that prevent the transfer of this material for prohibit military purposes.”
North Korea’s UN Ambassador Kim Song stressed that its relationship with Russia “is a positive contribution to international peace and security and cannot under any circumstances be the subject of criticism.”
He accused the United States and its allies of inciting “confrontation and discord among nations” by intervening militarily across the planet and providing Ukraine with billions of dollars in military aid, including long-range weapons.