North Korea has the ability domestically to produce the engines that power its ballistic missiles, US intelligence officials have said, raising new concerns about the technological sophistication of the reclusive Asian nation’s weapons programmes.
The assessment also contradicts an independent study released this week that suggested the engines for North Korea’s newly-tested intercontinental ballistic missiles were probably built in either Ukrainian or Russian factories and obtained illicitly.
“We have intelligence to suggest that North Korea is not reliant on imports of engines. Instead, we judge they have the ability to produce the engines themselves,” a senior US intelligence official told the Financial Times.