Statements like “There is no evidence to suggest that North Korea successfully designed and developed the LPE indigenously” should be paired with a statement that “there is no evidence that Ukraine supplied technology or hardware to North Korea,” the press office of Yuzhnoye wrote, according to Christopher Miller.
The design office expressed indignation over the fact that neither the IISS nor NYT had contacted them prior to releasing their reports.
Read alsoRussia has all grounds, opportunities to supply engines for N.Korean missiles – Ukraine’s State Space Agency“The engine shown in the North Korean photos are so dramatically different from anything designed in Ukraine that to the trained eye it’s ludicrous to propose that Ukrainian designs are present in North Korean systems,” the statement reads. “The combustion cycle of the North Korean engine is clearly open cycle, vs the closed cycle designs which have dominated Ukrainian engines.”
“Claiming that the engine development has taken place within the last 2 years is also ludicrous,” the press service went on to say. “Even the most advanced rocket engine designers in the world could not develop a new or heavily modified engine in anywhere near a 2 year timeframe.”
Yuzhnoye has also branded as “absurd conjecture” statements like “Such expertise is available at Russia’s Energomash concern and Ukraine’s KB Yuzhnoye. One has to conclude that the modified engines were made in those factories.”
The press service goes on to dismiss significant contradictions and inaccuracies, including those of a technical nature, in the IISS report.
In a separate notion, Yuzhnoye stresses that the claims of “financial shortfalls” it allegedly experienced recently are “irresponsible” and “uninformed.”
Read alsoNYT expert explains his words about Ukraine's supply of missile technology to DPRK“In recent years Yuzhnoye has experienced a surge in business and an expansion of workforce. Yuzhnoye has hired over 00 new employees in the last 3-4 years with a total workforce of over 5500 as of this writing,” the statement says, adding that “None of this workforce has been engaged in any way with North Korea or in the support of North Korea. All work performed by Yuzhnoye and Yuzhmash is in compliance with the MTCR.”
The Ukrainian company suggests that the “IISS and NYT publications raise more questions than they answer, and the questions are of a geopolitical nature.”
One of the questions raised is why the reports are being released at this time. And another, no less important, question is “why does the NYT material carefully suppress the emphasis on Russia that is present in the IISS material?”
“The IISS and NYT materials are false, uninformed, and appear to be crafted to support a geopolitical agenda vs reporting any evidence related to the North Korean ICBM programs or Ukrainian involvement,” the statement says, adding that the international community should be very wary of this type of publications and the “true nature” of their “intent and support.”
Reiterating the earlier statement by Yuzhnoye and Yuzhmash where the companies say they believe that external help was supplied to North Korea, the company says that “we also emphatically state that it was not us that supplied this assistance.”
Read alsoUkraine’s Yuzhmash plant refutes reports on "missile ties" with N.KoreaHaving offered in person to the U.S. embassy in Kyiv on August 15 2017 to assist the U.S. in an effort to determine exactly who has provided this assistance to North Korea, the company says that along with Yuzhmash it has always been and always be “vigilant in non-proliferation efforts to keep technologies away from regimes that threaten world peace.”
“Irresponsible, inaccurate, and false journalistic reporting won’t alter this fact,” the statement concludes.
As UNIAN reported earlier, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko ordered that a thorough investigation into the reports on Ukraine’s alleged missile ties with N.Korea be launched, "no matter how absurd the charges against Ukraine may look.”
