North Korean weapons ship seized in Egypt

More than 30,000 anti-tank missiles were found on a North Korean ship seized in Egypt, the Washington Post revealed on October 1.

The huge cache of weapons was discovered on a North Korean cargo ship, the Jie Shun, which was disguised to look like a Cambodian ship. The ship was intercepted after the US warned Egypt about the weapons shipment.

Egyptian soldiers patrol as ships pass through the new Suez Canal. Photo: Bloomberg

A UN investigation has found that North Korea rakes in millions of dollars from arms sales to Egypt, often disguised in iron ore barrels.

The US has accused Egypt of trying to cover up the transactions, saying it failed to act decisively until US intelligence alerted it to the seized shipment.

In response to the US accusations, a spokesman for the Egyptian Embassy in Washington affirmed that the country has always been transparent and has removed those weapons.

“Egypt will continue to comply with United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions and prevent arms sales from North Korea.”

David Thompson, a senior analyst and investigator at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies in Washington, revealed that North Korea has used similar disguises to sell weapons to raise money to support its nuclear missile ambitions.

The discovery of the Jie Shun weapons ship in August 2016 caused the US to delay providing $300 million worth of military aid to Egypt.

It is not yet clear whether North Korea has received 23 million USD from this arms sale to Egypt./.

According to VOV