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North Korea Suspected of Nuclear Trade to Syria
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Israel still declines to identify the target of a Sept. 6 air force strike on Syrian territory; unofficial statements confirm that the target was nuclear supplies originating in North Korea.
30-Second Summary
On Sept. 6, Israeli planes attacked a location in the north of Syria, near the border with Turkey.
Six days later, Syria made an official complaint to the United Nations, describing the incursion as a “flagrant defiance of international law.”
Syria’s tardiness in voicing its displeasure and its refusal to identify the target matched the reluctance of other nations to discuss the incident. The U.S. government did not verify that the strike took place for five days. The Israeli government has yet to issue any statement at all on the event.
The reticence of these nations has been a catalyst for media speculation.
The simplest theory offered in the press is that the planes hit a weapons shipment intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon. An unnamed U.S. official allegedly confirmed that theory for The Jerusalem Post.
A more worrying hypothesis, and one gaining credibility, is that the Israeli planes struck against nuclear technology that came from North Korea. The New York Times has reported that American officials are assessing “Israel’s private claims that what their jets struck was tied to nuclear weapons development.”
Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton surmised in The Wall Street Journal in August that there might exist a nuclear link between North Korea and Syria.
In a more recent article in the same publication, Bolton argues that such a trade in nuclear technology reduces recent diplomatic advances between the United States and the North “almost to insignificance.”
Six days later, Syria made an official complaint to the United Nations, describing the incursion as a “flagrant defiance of international law.”
Syria’s tardiness in voicing its displeasure and its refusal to identify the target matched the reluctance of other nations to discuss the incident. The U.S. government did not verify that the strike took place for five days. The Israeli government has yet to issue any statement at all on the event.
The reticence of these nations has been a catalyst for media speculation.
The simplest theory offered in the press is that the planes hit a weapons shipment intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon. An unnamed U.S. official allegedly confirmed that theory for The Jerusalem Post.
A more worrying hypothesis, and one gaining credibility, is that the Israeli planes struck against nuclear technology that came from North Korea. The New York Times has reported that American officials are assessing “Israel’s private claims that what their jets struck was tied to nuclear weapons development.”
Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton surmised in The Wall Street Journal in August that there might exist a nuclear link between North Korea and Syria.
In a more recent article in the same publication, Bolton argues that such a trade in nuclear technology reduces recent diplomatic advances between the United States and the North “almost to insignificance.”
Headline Links: Syria, the United Nations, and Hezbollah
According to The New York Times, the latest reports state that the White House was informed of the attack shortly before its launch. Whether the U.S. government supported the action is not known. Nor has the position of the American intelligence agencies been revealed.
Source: The New York Times
On Sept. 19, The New York Sun reported that its source, “a former military senior officer,” attested to the existence of a Syrian nuclear program dating back to 1986. According to the Sun, Syria continues to maintain that the Israeli planes failed to bomb any target and were chased from Syrian airspace, being forced to drop their long-range fuel tanks to effect a rapid retreat.
Source: The New York Sun
On Sept. 22, The New York Times reported that American officials were assessing “Israel’s private claims that what their jets struck was tied to nuclear weapons development.” According to the Times, U.S. intelligence agencies are inclined to be particularly cautious in examining the evidence in the light of recent mistakes in assessing Iraq’s weapons capacity.
Source: The New York Times
Reactions: Syria's alleged nuclear ties to Korea
According to The New York Sun, North Korea’s condemnation of Israel’s actions is a rare and suspicious instance of this isolated state making a statement concerning relations between other countries. Writer Benny Avni concludes that the unusual nature of this show of solidarity “raises speculation about a possible North Korean role in Middle East tensions."
Source: The New York Sun
On Sept. 14, a state department official said that it is possible that Korea is just one of a number of “secret suppliers” that may be supporting a Syrian nuclear program. Andrew Simmel, a senior official working in counter-proliferation, stated that North Korean technicians were operating inside Syria.
Source: The New York Times
On Sept. 18, North Korea described reports that it has nuclear ties with Syria as a "conspiracy" intended to undermine negotiations with the United States. Under a deal struck in February '07, North Korea has suspended work at its Yongbyon nuclear complex in return for 50,000 tons of heavy fuel from South Korea.
Source: The New York Times
Background: The initial reporting of the raid
Washington waited until Sept. 11 to confirm that the attack had taken place. Although the U.S. government has refrained from expressing an opinion regarding the aim of the incursion, The Jerusalem Post cites an unnamed U.S. official who says that the planes targeted an arms shipment to Hezbollah.
Source: The Jerusalem Post
When reporting Syria’s complaint to the United Nations, made on Sept. 12, the BBC appeared to favor the theory that the strike was intended to stop an arms shipment intended for Hezbollah, which either originated in Syria or was passing through Syrian territory.
Source: The BBC
Opinion: A pre-emptive strike or a dry run?
The Wall Street Journal considers the possibility that Israel's activity in Syria is aimed at gathering intelligence on a possible "North Korean-Syrian nuclear connection ... neither Israel nor the Bush Administration has commented officially on this or another mysterious event—Israel's flyover and apparent raid last week on targets inside Syria. [But] given the Administration's experience with prewar intelligence on WMD in Iraq, it's understandable that it would want to have solid evidence before going public.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal (paid subscription may be required)
In Aug. 2007, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton wrote in The Wall Street Journal that Syria, Iran, “and others might be ‘safe havens’ for North Korea’s nuclear weapons development, or may have already participated with or benefited from it.” He argues that such cooperation, were it to occur, could allow North Korea to attain full diplomatic relations with the United States without making a thorough disclosure of its nuclear capabilities.
Source: The Wall Street Journal (paid subscription may be required)
British Sunday newspaper The Observer hypothesizes that the raid was a “dry run” for an attack on Iran that would be designed to knock-out its nuclear facilities. The Observer's Peter Beaumont writes that the raid is “a reminder, if it were required, that if Israel’s ground forces were humiliated in the second Lebanese war its air force remains potent, powerful and unchallenged.” Beaumont observes that there is an intriguing contrast between the openness of the Israeli military in previous operations, such as the air raid on Iraq’s nuclear facilities in 1981 (see History), and the absolute silence its has observed regarding the Syrian strike.
Source: The Observer
Bret Stephens, former editor of The Jerusalem Post, writes that the scenario in which the Israeli attack was a pre-emptive strike against nascent nuclear facilities is “the likeliest suggested so far.” Had the attack been targeted against arms intended for Hezbollah, he reasons, “Israel would have every reason to advertise Damascus’s ongoing violations of Lebanese sovereignty.” Stephens discards the theory of that the incident was a dry run for a raid on Iran also. The Israeli planes dropped their fuel tanks near the Turkish border, and Stephens writes that “if Israel is contemplating an attack on Tehran’s nuclear installations—and it is—it makes no sense to advertise the ‘Turkish corridor’ as its likely avenue of attack.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal (paid subscription may be required)
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton argues in The Wall Street Journal that the recent diplomatic development between the United States and North Korea “has been reduced almost to insignificance” by Israel’s attack on Syria. Bolton entreats the president to take a “tougher, more realistic attitude” regarding negotiations with the North than has been in evidence in recent diplomacy.
Source: The Wall Street Journal (paid subscription may be required)
History: Israel air strikes on Iraq and Syria
June 7, 1981—Isreal strikes Iraqi reactor
Israeli planes bombed a French-built Iraqi nuclear facility just outside of Baghdad. Israel claimed that Iraq intended to use the reactor, ostensibly created to supply energy, to produce nuclear weapons.
Unconfirmed claims that the recent raid on Syria was targeted at nuclear technology originating in North Korea have stirred memories of that 1981 attack on Iraq.
Israeli planes bombed a French-built Iraqi nuclear facility just outside of Baghdad. Israel claimed that Iraq intended to use the reactor, ostensibly created to supply energy, to produce nuclear weapons.
Unconfirmed claims that the recent raid on Syria was targeted at nuclear technology originating in North Korea have stirred memories of that 1981 attack on Iraq.
The British television channel revisits its coverage of the Israeli destruction of the Iraqi reactor.
Source: The BBC
Blogger Edward Morrissey publishes an entry from President Ronald Reagan’s diaries for June 7, 1981. Reagan wrote, “I swear I believe Armageddon is here.” He went on to record his disappointment that the Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin, had not consulted him before launching the attack: “I can understand his fear but feel he took the wrong option … What has happened is the result of fear and suspicion on both sides. We need a real push for solid peace.”
Source: Captain's Quarters
October 5, 2003—The last Israeli air strike on Syria
In '03, Israeli planes hit what Israel claimed was a training camp for terrorist groups such as Islamic Jihad.
Israel was very open about its aims and motivation in the ’03 incident, which makes a marked contrast with the silence that has followed the recent incursion into Syrian air space.
In '03, Israeli planes hit what Israel claimed was a training camp for terrorist groups such as Islamic Jihad.
Israel was very open about its aims and motivation in the ’03 incident, which makes a marked contrast with the silence that has followed the recent incursion into Syrian air space.
ABC News reported that the air strike was conducted in reprisal after a suicide bombing in Haifa killed 19 people.
Source: ABC News
This detailed brief adds further details to the ’03 attack on Syria, among them the fact that the State Department was not informed of the raid beforehand.
Source: Radio Free Europe
Reference Material
Hezbollah, the recipient of an alleged arms shipment that may have been the target of the Israeli incursion, is a “Lebanese umbrella organization of radical Islamic Shiite groups,” according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Hezbollah came into existence during the Lebanese Civil War with the aim of expelling Israel from Lebanese territory. It has since become a major player in Middle Eastern politics, and was vocal in declaring victory in summer ’06 when Israel failed to root out Hezbollah militants firing rockets over the border into Israel.
Source: Council on Foreign Relations
The BBC provides a context for the incursion, explaining that Syria and Israel are technically at war. Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has said that Syria wants to negotiate a peace, but only on the condition that Israel returns the Golan Heights, the territory it annexed from Syria in 1967. Tensions have mounted since last summer’s conflict with Hezbollah, a militant organization Israel accuses Syria of sponsoring.
Source: The BBC
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