Most of the victims in the 1972 shooting were Catholic pilgrims from
Puerto Rico who had come to visit the Holy Land for the first time. The
court complaint alleged that Pyongyang had trained and financed the three
attackers, who used automatic weapons, ammunition and grenades. Two of the
three attackers were killed and the third was captured and sentenced to
prison in Israel, Middle East Newsline reported.
"North Korea was behind the attack," Shurat HaDin said. "As the trial
will show incontrovertibly, in the months leading up to the massacre the
leaders of the JRA and PFLP met each other and with North Korean officials,
who provided funding, intelligence, training, and other material support for
the terrorists."
The trial was scheduled to begin on Dec. 3 in the U.S. federal district
court in San Juan. The plaintiffs have argued that North Korea supported
JRA's plan to target Israel as part of its campaign to promote communist
revolution.
North Korea, removed from the State Department's list of terrorist
sponsors in 2008, has been identified as a leading weapons supplier to Iran
and Syria. Israel has asserted that Pyongyang helped build the huge
underground network for Hizbullah in southern Lebanon. Shurat HaDin has
filed two other lawsuits against North Korea.
"It is widely known that one of the world's most oppressive regimes
[North Korea] is also a consistent support of terrorism, including providing
weaponry, training bases, and funding for Palestinian terrorist
organizations," Shurat HaDin said.
