NEW TERROR FEAR AS KIM LINKS WITH ISIS THUGS
THE North Korea crisis could increase the risk of bigger and more violent terror attacks around the world, experts believe.
They think crippling sanctions and pressure on Kim Jong-un’s regime have made it desperate for cash, meaning it could escalate arms sales to rogue groups – with Isis and al-Qaeda among the buyers.
The report by US organisation Clarion, who monitor Islamic extremism, said North Korea has traded in guns, missiles and bombs for many millions of pounds with Islamist terror groups for years – despite supposedly being an isolated Stalinist state.
It added: “We should expect such sales to increase as sanctions force the regime to look for more revenue, as well as ways to retaliate against the US and its allies.
“The North Korean regime has no problem selling arms to Islamists and is not a target of the jihadists, so we shouldn’t be surprised if North Korea goes so far as to directly sell weapons and expertise to groups like Isis and al-Qaeda.”
Among the militant groups North Korea has done deals with are al-Qaeda affiliates, Isis-linked groups, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Clarion’s report says Hezbollah fighters have trained in North Korea, and since the 80s Pyongyang’s engineers have helped build attack tunnels into Israel for Hamas.