Did Iran Sell Russian Cruise Missiles to North Korea?

So says the Sankei Shinmun, apparently via U.S. intelligence agencies. Insert your own disclaimers.

At issue is technology used in cruise missiles known as Kh-55s that Ukraine exported to Iran in 2001 under former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, the Sankei Shimbun daily said, quoting Japanese government and ruling party sources.

“They are linked by a network beneath the surface regarding the development of weapons of mass destruction,” Sankei quoted a Defense Ministry source as saying about Iran and North Korea.

The possible leak of technology was conveyed to Japan by a U.S. intelligence agency, said Sankei, a conservative daily.

Developed in the late 1970s in the former Soviet Union, the Kh-55s have a range of 3,000 km (1,864 miles), long enough to hit any part of Japan if deployed by North Korea, Sankei said.

North Korea’s current known cruise missile inventory (Russian Sunburns and Chinese Silkworms) has nothing like that range. What makes this disturbing is the difficulty of intercepting cruise missiles, which fly so low that they’re difficult to spot and track until they’re very near the target. Their airspeed, however, is relatively slow. The Kh-55 bears a close resemblance to the Tomohawk, which flies at about 500 miles per hour and has a similar range.

What’s more disturbing is the realization that North Korea is critically short of cash, but well supplied with other noxious things that Iran wants even more.