Ukraine Convicts Two N. Korean Spies For Attempt To Steal Top-Secret Missile Documents

The Ukrainian authorities have detained two North Korean spies who were reportedly trying to steal top-secret missile designs.

The government agents were tricked by authorities in Ukraine during a 2011 sting operation, CNN reports. The Ukrainian security services have convicted the pair of espionage and have denied them extradition.

The grainy surveillance video provided to CNN was filmed on July 27, 2011, on a hidden camera set up within a garage to capture the end of a sting operation that was months in the planning.

The revelations are aimed at dispelling claims that a recent leap forward in Pyongyang's intercontinental missile technology may have been achieved by using designs stolen or originating from Ukraine, the report says.

Ukrainian officials told CNN that the two men had been in the country seeking “ballistic missiles, missile systems, missile construction, spacecraft engines, solar batteries, fast-emptying fuel tanks, mobile launch containers, powder accumulators and military government standards”.

The documents that the spies thought they were photographing ultimately showed designs for a SS-24 Scalpel intercontinental ballistic missile, which was manufactured by the Soviet Union.

The report says that the Ukraine security footage gives a rare window into the elaborate and shadowy world of North Korea's bid to improve its ability to hit the United States and other adversaries with long-range missiles.