Terror

Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
Intelligence Online reported that after 2000, North Korea also sent trainers to Hezbollah-controlled
areas in Lebanon, and assisted Hezbollah with the construction of an extensive system of
tunnels and underground bunkers. The Congressional Research Service report also cited
consistent reports by Japan’s conservative Sankei Shimbun, Britain’s Arabic-language Al-Sharq
Al-Awsat, and Lenny Ben-David, a former Israeli diplomat. According to the reports, the bunker
system significantly improved Hezbollah’s military capabilities during its 2006 war with Israel. 244
The Congressional Research Service report also raised suspicions that North Korea was
supplying longer-range artillery rockets to Hezbollah through Iran, 245 although these reports
would not be confirmed for another year, after North Korea was removed from the SSOT list
(infra Section IV.A).
A 2007 Congressional Research Service report also alleges that between 2006 and 2007, North
Korea made “several … attempts” to “smuggle conventional arms, including machine guns,
automatic rifles, and anti-tank rocket launchers” to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, 246 a
group that was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on October 8, 1997: 247
The Sri Lankan navy intercepted and attacked several North Korean
ships carrying the arms. It sunk two of the vessels, captured several
North Korean crewmen, and seized some of the North Korean arms.
The Sri Lankan government filed an official protest with the North
Korean government. U.S. intelligence agencies, using spy satellites,
may have conveyed information about the North Korean ships to the
Sri Lankan government, according to the reports. 248
244 Id. at 20-21.
245 Id. at 22.
246 Larry Niksch and Raphael Perl, “North Korea: Terrorism List Removal?,” CRS Report for Congress RL30613 (11
December 2007), 18.
247 U.S. Department of State, “Foreign Terrorist Organizations,” http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm.
248 Larry Niksch and Raphael Perl, “North Korea: Terrorism List Removal?,” CRS Report for Congress RL30613
(11 December 2007), 18. A 2008 Congressional Research Service report provides additional information on North
Korea’s alleged arms sales to the Tamil Tigers. See Larry Niksch, “North Korea: Terrorism List Removal?,” CRS Report for
Congress RL30613 (06 November 2008), 23-24.
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