MainNews -

Ukraine did not send arms to North Korea - security supremo

He suggested that the Russian special services were behind the smearing campaign.

Ukraine did not send arms to North Korea - security supremo
Oleksandr Turchynov
Photo: NSDC press service

Ukrainian defence and aerospace companies did not supply arms and military technologies to North Korea, the secretary of the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC), Oleksandr Turchynov, has said.

He denied reports about the transfer of rocket technologies by Pivdenmash (Yuzhmash) to North Korea as false.

"This information is groundless, provocative by nature and most likely was provoked by the Russian special services to cover up for their own crimes," Turchynov was quoted as saying on the NSDC website.

He said that Ukraine considers the North Korea ruling regime to be "totalitarian, dangerous and unpredictable and supports all sanctions against this country".

He recalled that since 2014, Ukraine had fully stopped any supplies of arms, military equipment and technologies to Russia.

"Ukraine supplied neither rocket engines nor any rocket technologies to North Korea. We believe that this anti-Ukrainian campaign was provoked by the Russian special services to cover up for their participation in North Korean nuclear and rocket programmes," he said.

The New York Times said that North Korea’s success in testing an intercontinental ballistic missile that appears able to reach the United States was made possible by black-market purchases of powerful rocket engines probably from a Ukrainian factory with historical ties to Russia’s missile programme.

Read LB.ua news on social networks Facebook, Twitter and Telegram