A missile launched by an Israeli jet flies near Damascus, the Syrian capital, in this Dec. 25 file photo. / Korea Times file



By Park Ji-won



North Korean missile experts who worked on Syrian weapons development were killed and wounded in an Israeli airstrike in Syria, according to an Israeli media report.



Debka File, an Israeli defense media outlet, reported the airstrike, which hit the Scientific Studies and Research Center in the Syrian town of Masyaf on Saturday, killed and wounded weapons experts from North Korea and Belarus as well as Iranian and Syrian military officers. It said the missile technicians were hired to upgrade Syrian missiles, citing Western intelligence sources. It did not state the exact number of casualties.



AFP, meanwhile, wrote the attack was carried out early Saturday and killed several Iranian military personnel and wounded 17 Syrian troops and their allies.



"North Korean engineers were working on the production of solid fuel, while Belarusians were in the pay of Syria's Organization of Technological Industries," Debka File reported.



"Especially targeted were the sections working on the upgrade of Syrian and Hezbollah surface missiles, the production of solid fuel for those missiles and the departments focusing on installing new guidance instruments to enhance their precision."



The media added those sources disclosed that similar raids have occurred before, but Saturday's attack was massive and gutted most of the region's installations.



An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment on the foreign media report, AFP added.



The revelations came amid concerns about North Korea's possible moves to sell its nuclear weapons technology to foreign clients after failing to strike a deal on denuclearization with the U.S. Since the breakdown of the Hanoi summit in February, the denuclearization negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington remain stalled due to their differences on the denuclearization process.



Citing a U.N. confidential report from February last year, media reports said North Korea has been giving technical aid to Syria and looking for ways to sell weapons to Yemen's Houthis.



Meanwhile, the Israeli military admitted recently that it had bombed the Al-Kubar facility near Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria in 2007, which was constructed with help from North Korea, according to media reports.

