Syrian civil war: Assad regime 'buying chemical weapons materials' from North Korea

Leaked UN report finds material used in ballistic and chemical weapons programmes sent to Damascus, as rebels in eastern Ghouta accuse government of new chlorine attack

A child and a man are treated for chlorine gas inhalation in the besieged Syrian town of Douma, in eastern Ghouta, on 25 February 2018 (Reuters)

North Korea has been using “innovative evasion techniques” to send materials needed for chemical and ballistic weapons production to Syria over the last five years, a new report from the UN says.

The leaked study found 40 shipments of items including industrial-level amounts of acid and heat-resistant tiles and pipes, as well as ball bearings and fibre-optic cable, were sent from Pyongyang to Damascus between 2012-2017.

The 200-page report, due to be published mid-March, also alleges that North Korean ballistics specialists have visited three Syrian government weapons production plants.

It has been leaked to media as rebel factions in the besieged Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta accuse the regime of using chlorine during the fierce 12-day-old bombing campaign on the area.

The Sunday attack killed one little boy and hospitalised 18 other people who first responders said had symptoms consistent with exposure to the poison gas. Monitors confirmed the child died of suffocation but could not determine whether chlorine was present.

Bashar al Assad’s government and its Russian allies said any attack had been orchestrated by al-Qaeda linked rebels in eastern Ghouta in order to pin blame on Damascus.

The Syrian government has been frequently accused of using chemical weapons, including chlorine and the nerve agent sarin, on civilian populations.

It agreed to give up its chemical weapons stock to international investigators after a sarin attack in eastern Ghouta in 2013 which killed hundreds of people – widely believed to be the worst chemical incident in modern history.

The UN report was compiled by a panel of experts appointed in 2016 to monitor international sanctions levied on North Korea because of its nuclear programme.

It details “substantial new evidence” about North Korea’s dealings with Syria dating back to 2008 via Ryonhap-2 and Komid, the pariah state’s main weapons companies.

The Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) – a Syrian government agency – is alleged to have paid Pyongyang for the equipment via a number of front companies.

The panel also found that North Korea had supplied weapons materials to several other countries in Africa the Middle East and Asia, including the military junta in Myanmar.

It said Chinese company Cheng Tong Trading Co may have sent the illegal shipments to Damascus-based companies in 2016-2017.

China has denied the allegations of sanctions-breaking. The Syrian government told the UN panel that “There are no [North Korean] technical companies in Syria and the only presence of some [North Korean] individuals are confined in the field of sports under private individual contracts for training athletics and gymnastics”.