N.Korea 'Exporting Chemical Weapons Parts to Syria'

North Korea allegedly played a decisive role in arming the Syrian regime with chemical weapons.

A diplomatic source last Friday claimed the North has transferred technologies for synthesizing chemical agents and making chemical warheads to Syria since the mid-1990s by dispatching chemical weapons experts there.

The source added North Korea has recently been seen exporting a vacuum dryer to Syria. He claimed "many pieces of evidence" show that the North "has been continuously providing after-sales services" to Syrian chemical weapons facilities.

Vacuum dryers are essential devices for the production of chemical weapons used to dry liquid chemical materials to make them into fine powder.

In November 2009, a cargo ship bound for Syria was caught at Piraeus Port in Greece carrying North Korean chemical weapons-related materials, including about 20,000 pieces of protective clothing for atomic, biological and chemical warfare.

The U.S. claims to have evidence that the regime of Syrian President Basher Al-Assad has used chemical weapons in an escalating civil war. Ben Rhodes, a deputy adviser at the White House National Security Council, on Thursday said, "The intelligence community estimates that 100 to 150 people have died from detected chemical weapons attacks in Syria to date; however, casualty data is likely incomplete."

Another diplomatic source claimed it is "most likely" that chemical weapons used by Syrian government troops were produced with North Korean technology.

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