The Ukrainian government has denied supplying advanced missile engines to North Korea after a report said Pyongyang’s latest ICBMs use motors produced in a factory in former Soviet state.

Kiev said the suggestion that advanced rocket engine might have been sold to North Korea by corrupt staff or managers at the Yuzhmash missile factor in the city of Dnipro was ill-informed and probably Russian propaganda.

"This information is not based on any grounds, provocative by its content, and most likely provoked by Russian secret services to cover their own crimes," said Oleksandr Turchynov, the chairman of Ukraine's Security and Defence Council said.

“Ukraine has always adhered to all its international commitments, therefore, Ukrainian defense and aerospace complex did not supply weapons and military technology to North Korea,” the council said in a statement.