North Korea and the Middle East

North Korea and the Middle East
By Dr. Alon Levkowitz, January 10, 2017

Kim Jung-un’s new year declaration that North Korea will test its new ICBM
this year (2017) poses a further challenge to the incoming Trump
administration. It is truly a “rogue state” – a country that conducts
nuclear tests in defiance of the UN Security Council, and that is willing to
sell conventional and non-conventional weapons to other rogue regimes,
including Israel’s enemies. The nuclear cooperation between North Korea,
Syria and Iran forces Israel into new alliances to counter this threat.

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CONCLUSION

North Korea has been very active militarily in the Middle East over the
decades, from sending pilots to assist Egypt and Syria in the October 1973
war to cooperating with Damascus on a nuclear reactor in the new millennium.
Pyongyang has sold missiles of different ranges as well as light ammunition
to Middle Eastern states, and has even sold to terrorist organizations such
as Hamas and Hezbollah.

Pyongyang’s technological advancement has allowed it to develop
submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), intercontinental ballistic
missiles (ICBMs), and missiles that can carry nuclear bombs. Its military
exports to the Middle East and North Africa, as well as its development of
its own conventional and nuclear weapons programs, has continued despite
efforts by the international community to halt such efforts. The North
Korean issue should accordingly raise concerns in Asia, the US, and Israel.

Kim Jung-un, the leader of North Korea, is challenging the world even more
than did his father, Kim Jung-il. He is conducting nuclear tests and testing
middle- and long-range missiles, including SLBMs, in the hope that Beijing
or even Moscow will step in to prevent any serious aggravation of
international sanctions, especially in the UN Security Council. Still, the
existing sanctions, and the difficulties faced by the North Korean economy,
increase Pyongyang’s need for foreign income, making the Middle East an
important trading partner. North Korea’s 30 I North Korea and the Middle
East interest in expanding its military exports to the region, mainly to
Iran and Syria, will likely increase in order to generate more income.

Israel might be able to intercept some North Korean military shipments to
Syria or Hezbollah, but it will not be able to halt the majority of
Pyongyang’s conventional and nuclear exports to the Middle East without the
assistance of the US and its allies. That is why Israel should continue to
work on convincing the US, Europe, and its Asian allies that North Korea is
a rogue state that threatens the stability not only of Northeast Asia, but
of the Middle East through its conventional and nuclear power

Read Dr. Levkowitz’s 40-page study: PDF

https://besacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/MSPS-Levkowitz-Web-.pdf