- A North Korean diplomat reportedly told an Israeli diplomat in 1999 that Pyongyang would provide ballistic missile technology to Iran unless it paid $US1 billion.
- North Korea has nuclear weapons, but it’s deterred from using them because it would be nuked right back in a more massive response.
- But if North Korea sells nuclear weapons and related technology, another rogue state or terror organisation may feel less restrained to actually use them.
- Even if North Korea doesn’t sell weapons, it can still blackmail countries like Israel with its nuclear leverage.
A North Korean diplomat reportedly told an Israeli diplomat in 1999 that Pyongyang would provide ballistic missile technology to Iran, a state sworn to destroy Israel, unless it paid up to the tune of $US1 billion.
North Korea has a long and well documented history of providing weapons technology, including chemical and nuclear weapon infrastructure, to countries like Iran and Syria.
While Pyongyang commands a few dozen operational nuclear warheads, according to intelligence reports, its real threat to the world lies not in starting an outright nuclear war, but in selling nuclear weapons to states, or terrorists, that may use them.
It’s unclear if Israel ever paid North Korea’s blackmail, though Israel would later destroy an Iranian nuclear reactor that North Korea was suspected of helping build.
Read the article by Alex Lockie in Business Insider Australia.