The recent developments regarding North Korea’s involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict highlight a significant escalation in the region’s arms dynamics. South Korean intelligence has confirmed that North Korea is supplying weapons to groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. This confirmation is supported by studies and reports from U.S. and U.N. investigators.
During the Gaza war, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) discovered significant quantities of weapons in the Gaza Strip, believed to be of North Korean origin. This discovery raised concerns about their potential use against Israel, as highlighted by Israeli Ambassador to South Korea Akiva Tor on October 16. The next day, a senior South Korean joint chiefs of staff official suggested a direct or indirect link between Hamas and North Korea in terms of arms trade, tactical guidance, and training. This assertion is backed by the discovery of North Korean F-7 rocket-propelled grenades and Bang-122 artillery shells in Hamas’s arsenal, as reported by Army Recognition’s editorial team on November 1, 2023.
North Korea, through its Central News Agency KCNA, denied these allegations, calling them “baseless and false rumors.” They accused the United States of diverting attention from their role in the Gaza war.
On October 24, 2023, the Stimson Research Institute released a report detailing North Korea’s long history of military partnership with Iran and Syria, and how its military technology eventually reached Iran’s terrorist proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.