NORTH KOREA’S CLOSE MILITARY TIES TO SYRIA INCLUDE WEAPONS TRANSFERS
Pyongyang tried to export gas masks and other weapons to Syria, but the shipment was intercepted by Turkey, according to Japan’s Sankei Shimbun newspaper.
The vessel was searched by Turkish authorities who had been tipped off by the United States. It was stopped on April 3 when it passed through the Dardanelles strait in northwestern Turkey.
Turkish officials seized 1,400 rifles and pistols and some 30,000 bullets as well as gas masks apparently for chemical protection, Sankei said.
The captain of the vessel admitted that the shipment had come from North Korea, according to the newspaper. The arms were to be unloaded in Turkey and transported by land into Syria to support the government of President Bashar Assad, it said.
South Korean officials said they are trying to verify the report. A government official said gas masks and protective gear are considered weaponry because they are used for atomic, biological and chemical weapons.
If confirmed, the report shows that the Syrian government sought to import gas masks for the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people and “it can highlight the ongoing military connection between Syria and North Korea,” a government official said.
“North Korea has long been suspected of helping Syria develop conventional ballistic missiles since they established diplomatic relations in 1966,” he said.
In November 2009, Greece seized a shipment of almost 14,000 suits that provide protection against such weapons from a North Korean ship they believed was headed to Syria.
In 2009, South Korean authorities in the Busan Port on the southeast coast inspected North Korean cargo bound for Syria and confiscated hundreds of cylinders that could be used to build ballistic missile.
North Korean military officers have reportedly helped the government forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in repelling rebels. A picture released from the Syrian Arab News Agency shows two military attaches from the North Korean Embassy in Syria during a visit to the Tishreen Military Hospital in Damascus on March 6, 2012.
A Syrian delegation was reported to have visited Pyongyang in late July. The North’s Korean Central News Agency quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un saying the talks were aimed as “boasting bilateral relations” between their countries.
The latest weapon transfer attempt came amid sanctions on the two nations. Syria is the subject of sanctions by the European Union, the U.S. and its allies banning the sale of weapons. North Korea is barred by United Nations sanctions from trading in weaponry in the wake of nuclear and missile tests.
If the report is confirmed, Pyongyang could face additional U.N. sanctions over the shipment, officials in Seoul said.
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