North Korea’s hidden hand in supplying rockets to Hamas 

For years, the government of North Korea has manufactured and sold its deadly weapons, including powerful rockets, to other outlaw regimes worldwide. In defiance of UN sanctions, global condemnation, and American warnings, Pyongyang continues on this path unimpeded and without concerns. The current war in Gaza has revealed the real danger and extent to which North Korean rockets, sold to Iran to supply Hamas, are being launched by the terrorists into Israeli cities and towns.

Back in 2021, I wrote a piece for the National Interest in which I outlined arms deals that reportedly occurred between North Korea and Hamas, resulting in rockets, upgrades to technology, and other military capabilities. At the time, Hamas was launching thousands of rockets into Israel, but most were destroyed by the Iron Dome system, and the Israeli people largely considered themselves safe from attack.

Fast forward to October of 2023. Things have changed. The threat from Hamas has proven to be so horrifying that most agree it needs to be completely destroyed. The terrorist attacks against civilians and targeting civilian communities in Israel have been carried out with a level of brutality rarely seen since medieval times. In the footage the whole world has seen, Hamas “fighters” were seen using weaponry from several sources – but shockingly to some, an analysis of weapons used thus far shows several systems with North Korean origins. 

The world first took notice of North Korean arms ending up in the hands of Hamas in 2009, when arms shipments consisting largely of rockets and rocket-propelled grenades were interdicted in Thailand and the UAE. The Israeli government at the time stated that these shipments were probably bound for Hamas and Hezbollah. The go-between for North Korea to these two entities was almost certainly Iran.  Since interdicted shipments are often only the tip of the iceberg, this is quite disturbing.

According to a report in The Telegraph in July of 2014, North Korea had entered into a deal with Hamas to sell the terrorist organization both rockets and communications gear (more on the “communications” gear later). The deal is said to have been worth several hundred thousand dollars, so it is likely that the deal involved the sale of thousands of North Korean rockets to Hamas. The deal was reportedly brokered through a Lebanese front company with ties to Hamas, located in Beirut. In addition, by the time the article was published, a down payment had already been made, so it is likely that the shipment of rockets and communications gear occurred sometime in late 2014.

In 2018, Fadi al-Batsh, a Palestinian and reported Hamas operative, was assassinated in Malaysia.  Malaysia was for many years (including during that time frame) a location that North Korea used to operate many of its front companies for arms deals all over the world, but particularly in the Middle East and Africa, as well as to launder the money from those deals.

According to press reporting, intelligence officials from the West and the Middle East had evidence that Batsh was part of negotiations with the North Koreans for arms deals being run out of Malaysia (as many of Pyongyang’s arms deals were at the time), including for communications components used in rocket guidance systems. According to Egyptian officials, a seized shipment of North Korean communications components used for guided munitions that they captured in 2018 was destined for Gaza. And what of the actual capabilities that North Korea has contributed to Hamas?  

According to sources within the South Korean JCS, “some of the multiple rocket launchers found near the Israeli border that Hamas militants reportedly used had “Bang-122” written in Korean.”  The official further remarked, “Lately, we have repeatedly detected North Korea exporting various weapons to Middle East countries and militant organizations, including the 122-millimeter multiple rocket launchers found along the border near Israel,” said a JCS official. “We believe these weapons were used by Hamas or an organization that supports Hamas.”  The “F-7” North Korean-made RPG has also been photographed in the possession of Hamas fighters attacking Israel on October 7. 

According to the Associated Press and confirmed by numerous photos, “Hamas propaganda videos and photos previously have shown its fighters with North Korea’s Bulsae guided anti-tank missile.”  The “Bulsae” is a laser-guided ATGM that has the potential to be effective against Israeli armor as it moves through a ground campaign in Gaza. Finally, back in 2014, according to a report from The Telegraph, “Israeli military commanders supervising operations against Gaza believe North Korean experts have given Hamas advice on building the extensive network of tunnels in Gaza that has enabled fighters to move weapons without detection by Israeli drones, which maintain a constant monitoring operation over Gaza.”

These tunnels continue to be a major challenge to the IDF and will continue to be a challenge to a ground campaign in Gaza. What does all of this mean?  First of all, it means North Korea will sell anything to anybody – including terrorist groups.  Secondly, it means the governments of Israel and the USA must consider North Korea’s military proliferation an existential national security threat, and more proactive means of thwarting it must immediately commence.  Third, it means that North Korea’s strong ties to Iran also equate to strong ties to proxy state and non-state actors that Iran supports.  Thus, the road to destroying North Korea’s illicit arms networks in the Middle East runs through Iran.

Israel’s intelligence services and the IDF will need to critically reevaluate its analysis of the threat from North Korea when the Gaza war is won. The Jewish state no longer has the luxury of assuming outlaw regimes like the one in Pyongyang create only a marginal threat when their hidden hand in supplying Iran is now very clear. 

Dr. Bruce E. Bechtol Jr. is a professor of Political Science at Angelo State University. He is also the president of the International Council on Korean Studies and a fellow at the Institute for Korean-American Studies. The author of five books dealing with North Korea, his latest work is entitled “North Korean Military Proliferation in the Middle East and Africa.”