North Korea has dismissed speculation that the Hamas militant group used North Korean munitions in its surprise attack on Israel as “groundless,” accusing the United States of fabricating a false accusation against Pyongyang.
“The U.S. administration’s mouthpieces and pseudo-experts are spreading baseless, homegrown myths that ‘North Korean-made weapons’ were used in the attack on Israel,” said Ri Kwang-song, an analyst on international affairs, in an an article carried by North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency on Oct. 13.
“What cannot be overlooked is that the U.S. is once again sticking to its malicious slander campaign against us in a bid to connect us to the latest conflict in the Middle East.”
KCNA’s article came after Radio Free Asia reported earlier on the suspected use of North Korean weapons by Hamas fighters, citing a video shared by the X account War Noir.
The clip shows one of the fighters brandishing an F-7 high-explosive fragmentation rocket made in the North, which was previously exported to the Middle East.
It was not immediately clear whether North Korea supplied the armaments directly to Hamas or whether they were obtained through transactions involving other nations, but experts said Palestinians have historically utilized North Korean armaments, which may have been purchased by Iran or Syria before being smuggled into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Cited by RFA, Bruce E. Bechtol Jr., a former intelligence officer for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, said the Syrians deal with Hezbollah a lot and Hezbollah deals with Hamas a lot.
“A lot of the trade that North Korea does with both Hamas and Hezbollah is deals that they make through the IRGC, the Iranian Republican Guard Corps,” he added.
Earlier this week, North Korea criticized Israel for the escalating conflict with Hamas, claiming that it is the “consequence of Israel's ceaseless criminal actions” against the Palestinian people.
Hamas launched rocket attacks against Israel during a major Jewish holiday on Saturday, and Israel responded with retaliatory strikes, resulting in the deaths or injuries of thousands of people on both sides.
Edited by Elaine Chan
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Taejun Kang for RFA.
By Taejun Kang for RFA | Radio Free (2023-10-13T05:44:34+00:00) Pyongyang denies N Korean weapons used by Hamas against Israel. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2023/10/13/pyongyang-denies-n-korean-weapons-used-by-hamas-against-israel/
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