The Nikkei Asia reported on the 11th that suspicions are growing that North Korea is conducting collaborative research with other countries to develop military technologies such as missiles.
As a result of the Nikkei Asia analysis of about 9,000 pieces of literature data published in the international paper database SCOPUS as of September 2023, at least 110 cases of suspected violations of the UN Security Council regulations were found. More than 80% of these involved co-authorship with Chinese researchers.
The analysis was carried out with the cooperation of nine experts in various technical fields, including Professor Takeshi Tsuchiya of the Engineering Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Tokyo.
From December 2016, immediately after the adoption of the Security Council’s sanctions resolution related to North Korea’s fifth nuclear test, to September 2023, 657 papers were co-authored by researchers affiliated with North Korean research institutions and researchers from other countries. At least 110 of these papers were suspected of violating sanctions.
The most prominent co-authoring country among these was China. Researchers affiliated with Chinese research institutions participated in 94 (85%) of the papers suspected of violating regulations, and 75 (61%) of these papers were funded by the Chinese government.
According to Nikkei Asia, academic exchanges between North Korea and China have been active for some time, and there is a high possibility that the leakage of technologies used in the military continues. Most of the research is funded by the Chinese government, and some have been cited by Chinese military research institutes after publication.
The newspaper also reported that nine papers on composite materials and crack analysis published between 2017 and 2019 could have been used in military technology. One of the co-authors, a former dean of the Harbin Institute of Technology in China, is a person close to the People’s Liberation Army and has conducted research on missile impacts and dam destruction with military research institutes in China from 2021 to 2023.
The UN Security Council calls on member countries to stop joint research in fields such as aerospace that lead to military supplies in its sanctions resolution against North Korea. This is due to concerns about the leakage of technology to North Korea under the guise of academic exchange.
However, the implementation of sanctions is left to the discretion of each country. Permanent member China maintains that “there is no joint research that violates regulations”. There are also counterarguments that excessive regulation of basic research hinders industrial development, making it impossible to regulate indiscriminately.
Nikkei Asia emphasized, “North Korea is also strengthening overseas ties in advanced manufacturing technologies that can be applied to weapon manufacturing” and that “Japan also needs to alert universities and regulatory authorities to strengthen international surveillance.”
North Korea has conducted more than 80 launch tests, including ballistic missile launches since 2022, and launched its first military reconnaissance satellite, the Manrikyong-1 in 2023.
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