Michael Elleman, author of the report, said the single combustion-chamber version of the RD-250 rocket engine that resembles what the North Koreans are testing likely traces back to Ukraine’s Yuzhnoye State Design Office or Russia’s Energomash, two state defense companies involved in designing the engine in the past. Engines were likely obtained illicitly from Ukrainian or Russian factories, missile defense expert says

WASHINGTON—The rapid advance of North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile program has prompted questions about whether Kim Jong Un’s regime obtained Soviet-designed rocket engines illicitly from Ukraine or Russia. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine denied on Monday that it had ever supplied defense technology to North Korea, responding to an article in the New York Times that said North Korea may have purchased rocket engines from Ukrainian factory Yuzhmash. I’m very worried.”

Until now, President Trump has singled out only China as the North’s main source of economical and technical support, although his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, has recently made reference to both China and Russia as Kim Jong-un’s “principal economic enablers”.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies releases a report arguing that North Korea has acquired a high-performance liquid-propellant engine for its missile program, probably from illicit networks in Russia and Ukraine, likely produced by Yuzhmash facilities. Ukraine denies the allegations.