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US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Thursday. (AFP-Yonhap) |
A White House official said Wednesday that he has not seen any indication of military cooperation between North Korea and the Hamas militant group, despite the South Korean spy agency's assessment that North Korean-made arms are being used by the group.
John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, made the remarks after Seoul's National Intelligence Service confirmed last week's Voice of America report that Hamas fighters have used an F-7 rocket-propelled grenade launcher manufactured in the North.
"I haven't seen any indications," Kirby told a press briefing. "I am not aware of any indications that there's been some sort of cooperation militarily between Hamas and North Korea."
On Monday, the NIS released a photo of a North Korean rocket part to confirm the VOA report.
Kirby also commented on military cooperation between the North and Russia, saying the United States is watching the relationship "very closely."
"We have talked a long time about the relationship between Russia and the DPRK and the way that Russia finds ways to evade sanctions and to continue to do business with North Korea," he said, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
He noted that cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow will have military benefits for both countries.
"I won't speculate about the degree to which we're seeing tangible evidence that North Korea is somehow benefiting militarily from this," he said. "We do know without question because I've said many times that certainly, Russia is benefiting militarily by the purchase of North Korean ballistic missiles."
Kirby revealed that Pyongyang had provided Moscow with several dozen missiles, some of which were used to strike Ukrainian targets on Dec. 30, Jan. 2 and Saturday. (Yonhap)
