North Korea has increased its “material support” for terrorist organizations and should be placed back on the US’ list of state sponsors of terrorism, a report released yesterday said.
The Pyongyang government under then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was taken off the list in 2008 by former US president George W. Bush, who hoped to engage the nation in dialogue.
A new report written by North Korea expert Joshua Stanton for the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) says that the US’ standards for defining a state sponsor of terror are “vague and inconsistent.”
The Arsenal of Terror report recommends that the US Congress and Department of State clarify the legal standards that define state sponsorship of terrorism and consider relisting North Korea as a sponsor.
“Since 2008, North Korea has increased its use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy, and also appears to have increased its material support for designated terrorist organizations,” HRNK executive director Greg Scarlatoiu said in a statement accompanying the report’s release.
“North Korea’s recent conduct poses a particular threat to human rights activists and dissidents in exile. It has also repeatedly threatened the civilian population of South Korea and other nations, including the United States,” he added.
The US lists Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba as state sponsors of terrorism, though US President Barack Obama has moved to remove Cuba as part of a historic rapprochement with the island.
The report details several instances of North Korea’s alleged support of terrorism.
In 2009 — year after it was removed from the list — North Korean shipments “to Iran and its terrorist clients evidenced the importance of North Korea’s role as a supplier of arms to terrorists backed by Iran,” the report said.
“News reports have alleged that these arms were destined for Iran’s terrorist clients, including Hezbollah and Hamas,” Stanton writes in the report.
The report also details several purported cyberattacks that have been blamed on North Korea, including last year’s alleged hacking of Sony Pictures’ systems.
The report describes several other suspected North Korea cyberattacks, including 35 that took place in 2009 against US and South Korean government and commercial Web sites.
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