REUTERS

"Let me be clear about DPRK's source of ICBM engine: Yuzhnoye is one of several possible sources, there are other potentials in Russia," Elleman wrote on Twitter on August 14, 2017.

"I don't believe Ukr gov't condoned or knew, if the engines were sourced in Ukr. To the contrary, Ukr arrested North Koreans in 2012!" he tweeted.

According to the official biography on 38 North website, the so-called NYT expert Michael Elleman led a Cooperative Threat Reduction program in Russia from 1995 to 2001, aimed at dismantling obsolete long-range missiles.

As UNIAN reported earlier, The New York Times has posted an article claiming North Korea's success in their tests of an intercontinental ballistic missile, allegedly able probably to reach the United States, was possible thanks to the purchase of powerful engines on the black market, likely originating from the Ukrainian-based plant.

In turn, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov said that the Ukrainian defense industry had not supplied rocket engines and missile technology to the North Korean regime. The state-owned Yuzhmash has stated that it has never had any links with North Korean space or defense-purpose missile programs.