Israel-Hamas War: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has instructed officials to support Palestinians amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and may sell weapons to terror groups in the Middle East, reported the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) citing South Korea's spy agency. As per Korea Herald, the report said, that South Korea's National Intelligence Agency’s director Kim Kyou-hyun told lawmakers Kim Jong Un is believed to have called for "wide support" for Palestine. This is in a bid to benefit from the war, according to the Korea Herald.
North Korea is facing a range of UN sanctions due to its nuclear programme and is reportedly sold anti-tank rocket launchers to Hamas in the past, South Korean lawmakers said after a briefing by the agency, the report added. The Wall Street Journal stated that North Korea may attempt to export more weapons amid the war in Gaza.
Earlier, images of North Korean weapons came forth showing Hamas militants using them in the October 7 attack against Israel, the Wall Street Journal report added. Hamas had likely used a North Korean F-7 rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-fired weapon that fighters typically use against armoured vehicles, The Associated Press reported citing South Korean officials and two defence experts on North Korean weapons.
Other visuals showed Hamas terrorists using suspected North Korean Bulsae-guided anti-tank missiles, the report further said. However, Pyongyang last week junked the claims of Hamas using its weapons and said it was a "groundless and fake rumour" organised by the US.
North Korea's Foreign Ministry last month accused Israel of bombing the Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital in the Gaza Strip. It said that Israel committed a war crime "under the undisguised patronage of the US", the WSJ report mentioned.
However, Israel claimed the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by Hamas, which rejected the allegations.
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