UN officials are studying images of military equipment paraded by North Korea at the weekend after a tip-off that one of the new missile launchers included significant Chinese technology that could put Beijing in breach of international sanctions against Pyongyang.

The panel of experts that advises the UN Security Council’s sanctions committee, which is charged with monitoring compliance with UN resolutions passed in 2006 and 2009, is studying images of the transporter bearing a large new North Korean missile. The images were passed to the panel by IHS Jane’s, the military analysts.

In an email seen by the Financial Times, a senior UN official close to the committee states his intention to pass the matter to the expert panel. The secretive panel rarely makes its findings public and has only investigated two similar cases, according to a report leaked last year. South Korean officials are also said to be studying the images.