Ukraine is virtually an "anything goes" zone for American entrepreneurs--as well as for people like the North Koreans. That idea has been reinforced by news reports that a Ukrainian factory sold North Korea rocket engines for intercontinental ballistic missiles, which Pyongyang wants to arm with nuclear warheads so it can threaten the United States as well as peace in its region.
In 2014, Ukraine had a piece of its territory, Crimea, sawed off by Russia and parts of its east occupied by Ukrainian rebels backed by Russian military support. After the initial conflict, a low-boil state of war persists, faded from the daily headlines in the U.S. at least. In the absence of attention, the country has become something of a Wild West entrepot of black-market weapons supply.
Military observers have been curious about how North Korea, which put into orbit in recent months two long-range ICBMs, was able to get past some of America's heretofore relatively successful efforts to sizzle its burgeoning missile-launching capacities. "The rapid nature of how they've been able to come to that capability is something, frankly, that has surprised both the United States and the world," said former CIA Director Leon Panetta on CBS on Sunday.
Ukrainian technology and a specific Ukrainian factory now appear to be the origin of the new North Korean surge. The missiles are called by the North Koreans Hwasong-14s, apparently powered by Ukrainian-made RD-250 engines, and they are projected to be able to reach Guam, Alaska and who knows where else if their trajectories are appropriately programmed.
For its part, the factory in question denies any wrongdoing. "Any transfer of technology to other countries for the organization of production of rocket and space technology is . . . inexpedient," it declares on its website.
Ukraine is a snakepit of runaway business transactions. It is a pity that an effective CIA element was also not more active along with American businesspersons in the snakepit and able to head off sales of engines and technology to the North Koreans.
Editorial on 08/18/2017