United Nations sanctions monitors reported to a Security Council meeting on Monday that the missile debris that touched down in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on January 2 came from a North Korean Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile. This information was reviewed by Reuters.
UN sanctions monitors found in their 32-page report that “debris recovered from a missile that landed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on 2 January 2024 derives from a DPRK Hwasong-11 series missile” and that this is a violation of North Korea’s arms embargo.
Known officially as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), North Korea has been subject to UN sanctions since 2006 due to its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. These restrictions have been tightened over time.
Earlier this month, three sanctions monitors visited Ukraine to examine the debris and discovered no proof that the missile was manufactured in Russia. The victims “could not independently identify from where the missile was launched, nor by whom.”
“Data on the trajectory furnished by Ukrainian authorities suggests that it was initiated inside the Russian Federation’s borders,” they reported in a report dated April 25 to the Security Council’s committee on sanctions against North Korea.
They claimed, “Such a location, if the missile was under control of Russian forces, would probably indicate procurement by nationals of the Russian Federation,” and that this would be against the 2006 arms embargo placed on North Korea.
A request for comment on the report by the sanctions monitors was not immediately answered by the North Korean and Russian delegations to the UN in New York.
North Korea has been charged by the US and other parties with providing arms to Russia for use against Ukraine, which it invaded in February 2022. Although they both refuted the charges, Moscow and Pyongyang promised to strengthen their military ties last year.
The US accused Russia in a February UN Security Council meeting of launching ballistic missiles at Ukraine on at least nine occasions using missiles supplied by the DPRK.
According to UN observers, Pyongyang conducted its first public testing of ballistic missiles from the Hwasong-11 class in 2019.
The UN sanctions monitors, also known as a panel of experts, have been monitoring the implementation of UN sanctions on North Korea for the past 15 years due to its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Russia this month vetoed the annual renewal of these sanctions monitors. On Tuesday, the present panel of experts’ term will come to an end.
The prosecutor’s office in the Kharkiv region showed reporters pieces of the missile shortly after the incident on January 2, stating that it differed from Russian versions and that “this may be a missile which was supplied by North Korea.”
