And the hermit state’s decades-old military alliance with Syria is beginning to seriously worry Washington, experts have claimed.
Syria and North Korea’s longstanding relationship, dating back to the 1960s, has grown closer this year despite both facing punishing sanctions from the rest of the world.
Last week Syrian minister of social affairs Rima al-Qadiri met North Korean ambassador Jang Myong Ho to discuss enhancing bilateral links, with Jang saying his country wanted to help President Bashar al-Assad’s regime with reconstruction efforts.
But increased involvement from North Korea in a state ravaged by a violent civil war can only be bad news for the USA, experts claim.
Jay Solomon, a visiting fellow at American think tank The Washington Institute, said President Donald Trump’s administration is increasingly worried “that Kim Jong Un is not only profiting from Syria’s six-year war, but also learning from it.”
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It is believed the Asian state has supplied Damascus with equipment for the latter’s missile program for a number of years.
At least two North Korean shipments to a Syrian government agency responsible for the nation’s chemical weapons program were intercepted this year, it was reported in August.
Kim is believed to have a deadly arsenal of chemical weapons, and experts have warned the North Korean dictator may be “gleaning lessons” from Bashar al-Assad’s alleged chemical attacks.
Rod Barton, former director of strategic technology at Australia’s Defense Intelligence Organisation, said: ”Previous shipments from North Korea are not known to have contained chemicals or chemical weapons production equipment.”
It is also alleged that North Korean military advisers are inside Syria – a charge that both countries have denied.
The secretive Asian state is also widely believed to have helped develop a Syrian nuclear facility, which was destroyed in a 2007 Israeli airstrike.
Concerns of their involvement come amid heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, as both Trump and Kim continue with robust exchanges.
This week a former top US official warned that North Korea is now more likely to use its “dangerous weapons” amid escalating threats from the hermit kingdom.
Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that the rogue state is more likely to use nuclear weapons than ever when questioned on the possibility of a renewed provocation.
He said: “I don’t know. I think it’s more probable than it used to be.
“And it scares me to death, quite frankly. They’re the most dangerous weapons in the world.
“And certainly if we have someone in North Korea that has a lethal legacy, is very, very unpredictable, and sees this as a way to solidify his future, that he could well not just attain them but potentially use them.”