Israel Accuses North Korea Of Providing Weapons Of Mass Destruction To 6 Middle East Countries

An Israeli delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency accused North Korea of providing weapons of mass destruction to at least six Middle East countries.

At an assembly of the IAEA on Saturday the Israeli delegate said that six countries in the Middle East had obtained the means to produce nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles covertly from North Korea thereby ignoring commitments they are bound by as members of the Non Proliferation Treaty that fully accepts the IAEA’s right to conduct inspections. 

The 145 nation assembly on Saturday called on North Korea in a unanimous vote to reverse the steps it had taken to revive its atom bomb program. “At a time when the international community concentrates on North Korea’s nuclear activities and its non compliance with safeguard agreements, the Middle East is at the receiving end of North Korea’s reckless practices,” Israeli envoy David Danieli told the assembly meeting in Vienna. “ North Korea has long become a source of proliferation of dangerous weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile in the Middle East,” he added.

Danieli who refused to name the six Middle East countries benefiting from North Korea’s services, he declared that the countries are acting in bad faith and have become eager recipients of North Korea through covert network channels.  

Experts in the west have named Iran, Syria, Libya and Iraq under the late Saddam Hussein as some of the nations in the region who benefit from North Korea’s nuclear technology. 

The Israeli delegate’s accusations come days after reports claimed Syria had resumed construction of nuclear facilities in its territory and quoted Israeli military officials saying that Israel would not allow a repeat of the Iranian model in Syria and would not wait for Damascus to complete the construction of a nuclear reactor before using all means at its disposal to stop the program. 

Israel itself  was the victim of two charged Arab sponsored draft resolutions made at the assembly on Saturday urging it to give up its nuclear arms monopoly in the Middle East and joint the Non Proliferation Treaty and permit. 10/04/08