Parts of a North Korean rocket that crashed into the sea last year were made in Britain, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The discovery was made by United Nations scientists who carried out a forensic study of the wreckage recovered from the Sea of Japan in February 2016.

The UN also traced the sale of the equipment – listed in the UN report as ‘100 bar pressure transmitters’ – from the UK to North Korea.

Parts of a North Korean rocket that crashed into the sea last year were made in Britain, The Mail on Sunday can reveal

A UN report revealed the series of transactions which took place before the parts turned up in the rogue state, where they were added to the Unha-3 rocket.

It read: ‘The pressure transmitters were manufactured in the UK. They were then sold by the manufacturer’s distributor in China to a Beijing-based company, which sold them on to Beijing Xinjianteng Century Technical Technology.

‘This firm was unable to provide the identity of the purchaser and indicated that the pressure transmitters had been sold in an electronics market.’

The UN report did not name the UK manufacturer and it is understood the company was completely unaware its parts were being sold to North Korean.

The discovery was made by United Nations scientists who carried out a forensic study of the wreckage recovered from the Sea of Japan in February 2016

The country also sourced vital equipment for the same batch of rockets from the United States, Germany and Russia through a complex web of intermediaries and shell companies.

Until the UN report it had been thought that no British parts had been found in any North Korean weapons since 2012.