U.S. report: North Korea apparently supplying Iran-backed group
WASHINGTON — The United States believes North Korea has become a major
supplier to the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah.
The U.S. Congress raised the prospect that North Korea was providing
weapons, technical assistance and military training to Hizbullah. The
Congressional Research Service cited reputable sources that Pyongyang
equipped Hizbullah with missiles and rockets used during the war against
Israel in 2006.
CRS, which provides independent analysis to Congress, discussed the
purported North Korean aid to Hizbullah amid plans by the Bush
administration to remove Pyongyang from the State Department list of
terrorist sponsors. The report, first obtained by the Reuters news agency,
cast doubts on claims that North Korea has ended support for groups deemed
terrorists, Middle East Newsline reported.
Also In This Edition
"Questions about the credibility of the claim are relevant in view of
the appearance of reports from reputable sources that North Korea has
provided arms and possibly training to Hizbullah in Lebanon and the Tamil
Tigers in Sri Lanka," the CRS report said.
Hizbullah has been on the State Department list of terrorist
organizations. The State Department has asserted that North Korea ended its
sponsorship of terrorist groups more than 20 years ago.
CRS said North Korea could have become a major supplier to Hizbullah.
The report cited a September 2006 report by Paris Intelligence Online that
North Korea provided extensive assistance to Hizbullah.
The North Korean program was said to have begun in the 1980s when
Hizbullah fighters were trained in Pyongyang. In 2000, during the Israeli
withdrawal from Lebanon, the cooperation expanded and North Korean engineers
were sent to Lebanon to instruct Hizbullah on the construction of
underground facilities to store weapons, food and medical equipment.
Pyongyang was also said to have helped install hundreds of
remote-controlled underground 122 mm Katyusha rocket launchers throughout
southern Lebanon. The network enabled Hizbullah to elevate a Katyusha
launcher from a bunker via hydraulic lift, fire a salvo of rockets and then
return underground.
"This significantly improved Hizbullah's ability to fight the Israelis,"
CRS said.