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Photo A photo released by North Koreas state news agency in July purported to show a test of a Hwasong-14, thought to be capable of reaching the mainland United States. Credit Korean Central News Agency, via Reuters

To the Editor:

Re Tracing Success of North Korea to Ukraine Plant (front page, Aug. 14): I was alarmed by suggestions in your article that Ukraine may have supplied rocket technology to North Korea. The article suggests that North Korea has been using an engine called the RD-250, then confirmed that the RD-250 was developed in Russia, and then made the leap that the technology leakage came from Ukraine. But no evidence has been provided to support the claims.

As Ukraines foreign minister and a trained aerophysicist, I want to say that my country could not have been involved in aiding North Koreas missile program.

The production lines for building these types of rockets in Ukraine were decommissioned in 1992. The expertise cannot be carried in the heads of rogue scientists. The instructions are included in complex manuals locked in top-security facilities guarded by our security forces. Not only would it be virtually impossible for criminals to access these manuals, but also any effort could not go unnoticed by our government.

But I am doubtful that North Korea could achieve what it has done without outside help. The global community must now come together to conduct an international inquiry to find out who was responsible.

PAVLO KLIMKIN, KIEV, UKRAINE

A version of this letter appears in print on August 22, 2017, on Page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Ukraine and North Korea.

See the rest here:
Ukraine and North Korea - New York Times