'N.Korean missiles hurt ME stability'

Israel sends UN c'tee letter warning of Pyongyang's arms deals.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, BEN HARTMAN
Scud Missile311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Scud Missile311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The Israeli UN mission sent a letter to the North Korea sanctions committee at the international body to warn of the growing number of ballistic missiles in the Middle East coming from North Korea.
"Israel would like to express its ongoing concern regarding the proliferation of ballistic missiles from [North Korea], and to encourage the international community to strengthen its efforts in response to these dangers," Reuters quoted from the letter, which was sent to the committee last week but released on Friday.
RELATED:Hizbullah received hundreds of Syrian missilesLieberman warns of new 'axis of evil'Editorial: Putting Iron Dome into perspectiveThe letter continued, "Israel is particularly concerned by the dangerous effects of the proliferation activities of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on the stability and the peace efforts in the Middle East."
The UN committee has been monitoring new UN sanctions aimed at cutting off arm sales that were levied upon North Korea last year after it held a nuclear test in May 2009.
The Israeli government has expressed before its view that North Korea's arms trading activities were harmful to Israel's security and that of the international community at large.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused North Korea in May of plotting to run arms to Hamas and Hizbullah, and said Pyongyang was part of a new “axis of evil” along with Syria and Iran.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to Tokyo, Lieberman said, “This axis of evil that includes North Korea, Syria and Iran, is the biggest threat to the entire world – not to Israel, but to the entire world.”
He added that “we saw this kind of cooperation only two or maybe three months ago with the North Korean plane in Bangkok, with huge numbers of different weapons, with the intention to smuggle these weapons to Hamas and Hizbullah.”
On December 12, Thai authorities, acting on a tip from a foreign source, seized a cargo plane in Bangkok full of more than 40 tons of weaponry, including missiles and rocket-propelled grenades. The Thai Air Force said the plane had arrived from Pyongyang.