Researcher: North Korea can produce ballistic missiles for Russia to use against Ukraine in months

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Researcher: North Korea can produce ballistic missiles for Russia to use against Ukraine in months

2024-12-19 10:19 Last Updated At：10:30

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — North Korea demonstrated this year that it could produce ballistic missiles and supply them to Russia for use against Ukraine in a matter of months, the head of a research organization that traces weapons used in the war said Wednesday.

Jonah Leff told the U.N. Security Council that researchers on the ground examined remnants of four missiles from North Korea recovered in Ukraine in July and August, including one that had marks indicating it was produced in 2024.

“This is the first public evidence of missiles having been produced in North Korea and then used in Ukraine within a matter of months, not years,” he said.

Leff also had briefed the Security Council in late June, telling members that the organization he heads, Conflict Armament Research, had “irrefutably” established that ballistic missile remnants found in Ukraine early this year were from a missile manufactured in North Korea.

The U.K.-based organization, which was established in 2011 to document and trace weapons used in conflicts to assist governments in countering diversion and proliferation, has worked in Ukraine since 2018.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed his country would “invariably support” Russia’s war in Ukraine when he met Russia’s defense chief in late November, the North’s state media reported.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia objected to the second appearance of Leff at the council meeting, chaired by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield of the United States, which holds the council’s rotating presidency this month.

He claimed Leff represents NATO and the European Union, and questioned whether his organization could provide impartial assessments. And he accused Thomas-Greenfield of violating Security Council practices and transforming its meetings “into a politicized act of buffoonery.”

The U.S. ambassador retorted that Russia had vetoed a resolution that ended the monitoring of sanctions against North Korea by U.N. experts, which she said makes organizations like Conflict Armament Research and its independent, well-regarded experts all the more critical.

She said its reports show why Russia was determined to block the renewal of the mandate for the U.N. experts. Russia and North Korea “are engaging in unlawful arms transfers and training, in brazen violation of numerous council resolutions," Thomas-Greenfield said.

Leff stood by the organization's research and said its analysis highlights three observations about North Korea’s missile activities.

It confirms the continued use of freshly manufactured North Korean ballistic missiles in Ukraine, he said, and the discovery of the 2024 manufacturing mark on one missile reveals the very short period between the production of these ballistic missiles, their transfer and eventual use in Ukraine.

Leff also said the presence of recently produced missile components not from North Korea, some bearing 2023 production marks, “illustrates North Korea’s robust acquisition network for its ballistic missile program, despite U.N. sanctions prohibiting the transfer of this material for military purpose.”

North Korea’s U.N. Ambassador Kim Song insisted that its relationship with Russia is “a positive contribution to international peace and security and can by no means be subject of the criticism.”

He accused the United States and its allies of inciting “confrontation and discord among nations,” by intervening militarily across the planet and providing Ukraine with billions of dollars in military aid, including long-range weapons.

Wisconsin school shooter had 2 handguns, used only 1 in attack that killed student, teacher

2024-12-19 10:14 Last Updated At：10:20

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The shooter at a religious school in Wisconsin had two handguns with her but used only one in the attack that killed a teacher and a student and wounded six others, the city's police chief said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Police were still investigating why the 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian Christian School in Madison shot and killed a fellow student and teacher on Monday, before shooting herself, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said. Two other students who were shot remained in critical condition on Wednesday.

“We may never know what she was thinking that day, but we’ll do our best to try to add or give as much information to our public as possible," Barnes said.

The student who was killed was identified in an obituary released Wednesday as Rubi Patricia Vergara, 14, of Madison. She was a freshman at the school and “an avid reader, loved art, singing and playing keyboard in the family worship band,” according to the obituary. The Associated Press' attempts to reach the girl's family by phone and email on Wednesday evening were unsuccessful.

The Dane County medical examiner Wednesday evening identified the teacher who was killed as 42-year-old Erin Michelle West, after initially identifying her as Michelle E. West. A man who answered the phone at a number listed for West in public records hung up when reached by a reporter Wednesday evening.

Barnes released the name of the shooter, Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, hours after the shooting on Monday. Barnes said the medical examiner would release the names of those killed, but the state's crime victims privacy law would bar releasing the names of those wounded.

Police, with the assistance of the FBI, were scouring online records and other resources and speaking with her parents and classmates in an attempt to determine a motive for the shooting, Barnes said.

Police don't know if anyone was targeted in the attack or if the attack had been planned in advance, the chief said.

“I do not know if if she planned it that day or if she planned it a week prior,” Barnes said. “To me, bringing a gun to school to hurt people is planning. And so we don’t know what the premeditation is.”

While Rupnow had two handguns, Barnes said he does not know how she obtained them and he declined to say who purchased them, citing the ongoing investigation.

No decisions have been made about whether Rupnow's parents might be charged in relation to the shooting, but they have been cooperating, Barnes said.

Online court records show no criminal cases against her father, Jeffrey Rupnow, or her mother, Mellissa Rupnow. They are divorced and shared custody of their daughter, but she primarily lived with her father, according to court documents. Divorce records indicate that Natalie was in therapy in 2022, but don’t say why.

Tension over police not releasing information had spilled over into a news conference on Tuesday, where Barnes left without taking questions. Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway grew increasingly terse in her responses as reporters asked questions she could not answer.

“It is absolutely none of y’alls business who was harmed in this incident,” Rhodes-Conway said. ”Please, have some human decency and respect for the people who lost loved ones or were injured themselves or whose children were injured. Just have some human decency, folks. Leave them alone. Let them grieve. Let them recover. Let them heal. Don’t feed off their pain. We’ll share what we can when we can and not before that.”

Barnes on Wednesday defended the police department's handling of information about the shooting because it has moved from a crisis response to the investigation phase.

“We’ve been trying to be as transparent as possible to give as much information as we can during the critical phase of this incident,” Barnes said. “Now we’re in the investigative phase. And so the information may not be as forthcoming.”

Tamrin Olden, a former police department spokesperson in California whose company provides communications training for law enforcement, said she advises departments to give routine updates with factual information after critical incidents and avoid unnecessarily delaying the release of information. She said that communications errors can cause frustration in the community, undermine the public's trust and compound the underlying tragedy.

“Your credibility gets tarnished and the incident sometimes gets remembered for these things rather than remembering and honoring the victims, which is where the focus should be,” she said.

The police department has had to correct some key misstatements since Monday, including that three and not five people had died and that a second-grade teacher, not a second-grade student, called 911.

Paul Bucher, the former Waukesha County district attorney who was involved in a number of high-profile cases, said the media has unrealistic expectations about how quickly officials should release information in high-profile incidents. His cases have included prosecuting former Green Bay Packers star tight end Mark Chmura for sexual assault in 2000 and being part of the team that dealt with the aftermath of a mass shooting at a church gathering in Brookfield in 2005 that left seven people dead.

“The government is fed up with the media,” he said. “They have no obligation to disclose anything to you at all. Based on the mayor’s statement, ‘this is not y’all’s business,’ that’s pretty indicative that they’ve had it.”

But Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council President Bill Lueders, a longtime Madison journalist, said Wednesday that authorities should be more transparent with the facts.

“It’s a problem that so little information has been released. I do not accept that this is necessary to protect the integrity of the investigation,” he said. “The public has a right to know.”

The school shooting was the latest among dozens across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas.

But it stands out because school shootings by teenage females have been extremely rare in the U.S., with males in their teens and 20s carrying out the majority of them, said David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database.

Emily Salisbury, an associate professor of social work at the University of Utah, studies criminology and gender. She said that females typically turn their anger on themselves because American culture has taught them that women don’t hurt people, resulting in eating disorders, self-harm and depression. It’s difficult to speculate without knowing all the facts in Rupnow’s case, Salisbury said, but a girl resorting to the level of violence she displayed suggests she experienced severe trauma or suffered violence herself.

Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school — prekindergarten through high school — with approximately 420 students.

This story has been updated to correct the name of the teacher killed to Erin Michelle West, according to the medical examiner’s office, which initially identified her as Michelle E. West. It also has been updated to correct that Emily Salisbury is an associate professor of social work at the University of Utah, not an associate sociology professor.

Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa.

Researcher: North Korea can produce ballistic missiles for Russia to use against Ukraine in months

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Researcher: North Korea can produce ballistic missiles for Russia to use against Ukraine in months

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