North Korean media is pushing back against speculation that weapons manufactured in their country were used by Hamas.
Korean Central News Agency published a full-throated repudiation of military experts claiming evidence that North Korean weapons are in the hands of Hamas combatants during the ongoing violence between Israel and Gaza.
“The U.S. administration’s reptile press bodies and quasi-experts are spreading a groundless and false rumor that ‘North Korea’s weapons’ seemed to be used for the attack on Israel,” wrote North Korean international affairs commentator Ri Kwang-song.
NORTH KOREA BACKS HAMAS AGAINST ISRAELI ‘CRIMINAL ACTIONS’
North Korean state media denied international speculation that the hermit nation produced weapons used by Hamas terrorist actors in their attack on Israel. (AP/Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service)
“It is nothing but a bid to shift the blame for the Middle East crisis caused by its wrong hegemonic policy onto a third country and thus evade the international criticism focused on the empire of evil,” the piece continued.
Korean Central News Agency is a state-affiliated news outlet.
Earlier this week, experts raised concerns that North Korean weapons such as F-7 rocket-propelled grenades appear to be in the possession of Hamas terrorists.
BIDEN SAYS US COMMITMENT TO ISRAELI ‘SECURITY AND THE SAFETY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE’ IS ‘UNSHAKABLE’
Gunmen from the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, during an anti-Israel military march in Gaza City. (Yousef Masoud/Majority World/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said during a Thursday press conference that he could not comment on the alleged connection.
North Korea has maintained diplomatic relations with Palestinian leaders since 1966.
North Korea does not recognize Israel and in 1988 recognized Palestinian authorities as the legitimate government of all Israeli territories.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas annihilate Israeli tank as smoke rises near Israel-Gaza border in Gaza. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The hermit nation previously voiced support for Hamas against Israel following the initial terrorist attacks.
“A large scale armed conflict has occurred between Hamas of Palestine and Israel,” read the Rodong Sinmun, a state-affiliated news outlet run by the Workers’ Party of North Korea.
“The international community calls the conflict the consequence of Israel’s ceaseless criminal actions against the people of Palestine,” the report added.
