Report: North Korea sold chemical weapon supplies to Syria

North Korea has shared its destructive power with another dictatorship and sent materials to make chemical weapons to Bashar Assad, according to a report.

The Kim Jong Un regime made 40 shipments to Syria between 2012 and 2017 that could aid in the creation of the banned bombs, said a leaked paper from a United Nations panel of experts reported by multiple news outlets on Wednesday.

A report by UN investigators looking at Pyongyang’s nuclear program said that “acid-resistant tiles, valves and pipes,” were among the shipments and that North Korea experts had been seen at Syrian weapons factories.

There were roughly enough tiles to cover a large-scale industrial project.

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North Korea is under heavy international and U.S. sanctions for its development of nuclear weapons and a missile system that could deliver a warhead to much of the globe.

The country has military ties to Syria that go back decades, and the George W. Bush administration accused it of helping to build a nuclear reactor in Syria that was destroyed by a 2007 Israeli strike.

North Korea also allegedly sold missile technology to Syria, before its devastating civil war, as well as Iran and Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya.

The alleged sale of chemical weapons material also comes after the Assad regime agreed to get rid of all of its supplies of such weapons after a deal brokered in 2013 with help from its ally Russia.

Assad has denied subsequent allegations that Syria uses chemical weapons, including in an alleged attack last year that led to the U.S. bombing a Syrian airfield.

Syria is alleged to have paid for the materials with its Scientific Studies and Research Center, and used front companies including at least one based in China.

China denied there was any evidence that Cheng Tong Trading Co Ltd. had any business with North Korean entities, according to the BBC.

The UN report, expected to be made public in the coming weeks, also includes a Syrian response that claims the only North Koreans in the country are there for sporting reasons.

Beyond fueling a conflict that has killed more than half a million people and left millions of others displaced, money allegedly received by North Korea for its weapons exports is believed to have helped fund its nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea also allegedly sent a banned missile system to Myanmar, which told the experts it was looking into their request for information.

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