Where are the engines from, Kim?
In life, it often happens that a person cannot, for some reason, adequately respond to his offender. And then this person takes his anger out on those who are at hand - on a child, a dog, or even an inanimate object. I kicked a chair and my heart was relieved.
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About the same thing is happening to the whole country today. The United States and its president, who desperately want to stop being strangers among their own, would like to subject North Korea to “liberation” bombings from the bottom of their hearts. I want it, but it hurts – the favorite pastime of the American elites over a long period of “throwing bombs on whoever I want” came across a persistent North Korean soldier, on whom you can break not only your teeth, but also your jaw. In response to Trump’s threats, Kim Jong-un boldly replied that his newest Hwasong-14 missiles were ready to attack the island of Guam, on whose territory a US Air Force base had long protruded.
And now, the American “hegemon” is looking around with a fiery gaze to find a suitable whipping boy and punish him for Kim’s intransigence and insolence. On the other hand, it is also necessary to punish wisely, so that later no one accuses the American muscleman of beating up a completely harmless switchman. The main question that is now tormenting the American elite is how it happened that the Juche people, whose missiles had recently exploded at launch, suddenly achieved unexpected successes and can now threaten the United States with their own nuclear missile baton.
According to liberal publication "New York Times" Ukraine and specifically the dying Yuzhnoye Design Bureau with the Yuzhmash plant in Dnepropetrovsk may be behind the successes of the North Korean missile program.
Edition as a source cites expert analysis by Michael Elleman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, as well as a selection of photographs from the Internet page of a rocket and space technology enthusiast from Germany, Norbert Brugge, in which the leader of the DPRK is captured in front of a stand for firing tests of rocket engines.
According to their estimates, it turns out that Kim’s missilemen use Soviet RD-250 engines (in the Juche version of Paektusan), but how they got from Ukraine to the DPRK remains a mystery.
The NYT article says that the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau from Dnepropetrovsk was the main enterprise for the production of the SS-18 Satan ICBM during Soviet times, and even after Ukraine gained independence it continued to work for the Russian defense program. “This continued until the overthrow of pro-Russian President Yanukovych,” the publication reports.
The article indicates that currently Dnepropetrovsk (in the text – Dnipro) is one of the most dynamically dying and collapsing megacities on the planet (population -17% during the period of “giddy” and a huge number of abandoned or destroyed buildings). An unfortunate fate befell the city's military-industrial complex enterprises, including the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. In order to stay afloat, Ukrainian rocket scientists are forced to sell the rocket engines they received from Russia to the Kim Jong-un regime.
As a clue, Elleman used information from UN investigators, according to which six years ago the Juche people tried to acquire secret missile technology in Ukraine, but two of their agents were arrested. The UN report said they were trying to steal information about missile systems, liquid propulsion systems and rocket fuel delivery systems. Investigators are convinced that Pyongyang was able to successfully steal such information by taking advantage of the Ukrainian chaos after the victory of the “Gidnost Revolution.”
However, experts note that the technology for producing rocket engines is so complex that the DPRK could not very quickly switch to its production, and someone’s hand is felt in how quickly the North Koreans mastered it.
In July, Yuzhmash denied reports that the plant was going through difficult times and was struggling to survive by selling technology abroad, in particular to China. The company’s website notes that it has not transferred dangerous technologies outside of Ukraine and will not do so. American investigators do not believe these assurances. Although there is no evidence that President Petro Poroshenko knew or controlled the possible leak of technology from the plant.
The publication recalls that US President Donald Trump paid attention only to China as the main partner of the DPRK, which could provide the necessary technical support. He never blamed Ukraine or Russia, although Secretary of State Tillerson spoke of economic support from Moscow and Beijing that allowed Pyongyang to build missiles. In particular, the article recalls an incident 25 years ago, when a group of Russian rocket scientists from the Design Bureau named after them was detained at a Moscow airport. Makeev, flying to one of the Far Eastern countries with transit through Pyongyang.
True, the expert himself notes that the compact R-27 engine of the Makeevka Design Bureau, developed for ICBMs of Soviet nuclear submarines, was at that time an overwhelming task for the science and industry of North Korea, and the flight was transit, but it was simply necessary to spit in the direction of the Russians.
There are some very interesting details in the article. For example, it is mentioned that in 2014, US President Obama ordered sabotage against the North Korean missile program. The focus was on the Musudan project, the development of medium-range missiles. But then, allegedly, Kim’s rocket scientists suddenly switched to a new type of engine, and American intelligence slept through this moment.
In particular, there is a part of an interview with former CIA Director Leon Panetta, given on Sunday's “Face the Nation” on CBS, in which the top CIA official admits that “the North Koreans are developing ICBMs with nuclear warheads faster than foreign intelligence agencies can respond to it.”
In general, it is not clear who exactly is responsible for the fact that Juche missiles began to fly so well - according to Eleman, each of the American intelligence services has its own theory on this matter. One circumstance, according to the analyst, is worthy of attention: the destruction of industry and unemployment of engineering and technical workers in the relevant profile.
Who is more suitable for this role than other countries? Ukraine. There is no other state in the world that treats its own intellectual resources with the same disdain.
In fact, experts in the field of missile technology have long noted that the DPRK missile program was a hodgepodge. From the world a thread - a shirt for the poor. They received some outdated missile systems from the USSR and China. Something was developed jointly with Iranian and Pakistani scientists. Some SCUD modernization technologies (West German, by the way) were purchased in Iraq after the first Gulf War. Something was passed down by the Egyptians. Well, after the liquidation of the Antonov concern and the collapse of Ukrainian defense enterprises, which survived solely through cooperation with Russia, technology leakage and the flight of scientists abroad are very possible.
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Turchynov has already responded to the NYT article, assuring that the media “in vain accuse Ukraine of selling missile technology to North Korea,” since “Ukraine considers the North Korean regime totalitarian, dangerous and unpredictable, supporting all sanctions against this country.” And, right there, in order to finally push everything off a sore head and onto a healthy one, Turchynov reminds that “since 2014, Ukraine has stopped supplying weapons, military equipment and technology to Russia” and “in the same way supports sanctions against the Russian Federation, whose regime is increasingly reminiscent of North Korean."
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