Excerpt:

So why did the Assads choose North Koreans to design their memorial? Maybe national mythologies are difficult to create, and Hafez al-Assad turned to the best in the business. More likely, North Koreans were just the cheapest option. 

Just something to keep in mind regarding the potential "lesson" that may come from the Syrian agreement on chemical weapons.  If Assad eventually falls the north will interpret as the proximate cause to be his willingness to agree to give up a critical military capability.  The north looks at the fall of leaders like Saddam and Qaddafi (and it is waiting for the regime to fall in Burma) and it reinforces their belief that if can never give up its deterrent capabilities because to do so will mean ending up in the worst possible situation:  the Ceausescu outcome.  

V/R

Dave

The Massive Mural That Captures Syria's Surprising Alliance with North Korea

Posted By Isaac Stone Fish  Tuesday, September 10, 2013 - 10:28 AM   Share

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/09/10/assad_syria_north_korea_mural_museum

In 1973, to aid in a surprise attack on Israel, North Korea reportedly sent hundreds of troops to Syria. The conflict, which became known as the Yom Kippur War, was an embarrassing defeat for Syria -- Israeli troops made it within dozens of miles of Damascus. Like so many dictatorships, the Syrian government tried to fashion a triumph out of a loss. On the outskirts of Damascus, theOctober War Panorama museum, a castle-like structure built with the help of North Koreans, memorializes Syria's "victory" over Israel.

If there's anywhere that shares Syria's sense of insecurity right now, it's North Korea, a country that appears to count Syria as one of its closest allies. KCNA, North Korea's official news agency,slathers praise on Syria, and Kim Jong Un recently met with a high-ranking Syrian delegation (to be fair, he also recently met with Dennis Rodman, and looked happier with the former basketball player than with Bashar al-Assad's envoys).

While it's difficult to say how deep their ties run, the two countries are surprisingly suitable partners. Both hate the United States and Israel -- Syria's enmity for its neighbor is well-known; North Korea views Israel as a running dog of the United States and a mortal enemy of its friends Syria and Palestine. (The Syrian nuclear reactor that Israel allegedly destroyed in 2007 was built with help from North Korea.)

North Korea, which over the centuries has been overrun by larger nations like Japan and the United States, views friendly nations able to overwhelm it -- countries like China, Russia, and even Pakistan -- with added suspicion. Syria is more of an equal: Both countries have roughly 20 to 25 million people, and pre-civil war Syria ran a police state nearly as effective as North Korea's. Ominously, the Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun reported that Turkey recently intercepted gas masks en route to Syria from North Korea, according to the Wall Street Journal.  

The bilateral ties extend beyond geopolitics into the realm of culture: what could be called, only semi-facetiously, North Korean soft power. North Korea has exported doctors, construction workers, and artists to Syria and at least half a dozen other countries. It has a surprisingly decent graphic design industry, and fosters a talented group of artists who have created works of social realism for those countries -- often massive paintings showing rosy-cheeked babies, steel mills, and citizens enlivened by their leaders' smile.

Perhaps the best place to observe these links between Syria and North Korea is the October War Panorama museum -- or at least it was when I visited in October 2009, when Syria was a more welcoming tourist destination. (I'm not sure if it's still open, but it was recently in the news after Syrian activists claimed rockets carrying chemical weapons had been fired from the site.) 

The two most memorable parts of the museum are a mural, which shows a majestic Hafez al-Assad flanked by ecstatic Syrians gravitating toward the former Syrian president, and a 360-degree panorama, which could be described as a Stalinist merry-go-round. As I sat on a platform in the middle of the panorama, it began to move, telling through tiny figurines and poorly designed army vehicles the story of Syrians wresting territory from Israeli soldiers circa 1973. 

(Continued at the link below)

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/09/10/assad_syria_north_korea_mural_museum

Not enough has been written about this but that is probably because few study and track the north's proliferation activities around the world to the depth and detail that Dr. Bechtol does.

V/R

Dave

N. Korean support for Syrian chemical programs By Bruce E. Bechtol Jr.  http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2013/09/197_142554.html As the world looks on in shock and horror, the Syrian regime has on several occasions used chemical weapons to inflict casualties on its own people.  Of this there is no doubt.  These events have been widely reported in the international press.  But what has not been widely reported in the press is the fact that North Korea is the main supplier to Syria, of not only chemical weapons, but the platforms that carry them (ballistic missiles). North Korea has designed and built at least two chemical weapons facilities in Syria.  Indeed, despite the lack of statements coming from Washington ― either from the White House or the Pentagon ― regarding North Korea’s role, Pyongyang appears to be Syria’s main provider of chemical weapons.  This is a role that is not new.  North Korea has been proliferating chemical weapons and Scud missiles that can be used as platforms to launch them since the 1990s. While North Korea’s role has been a constant one, Pyongyang’s profitable proliferation to Syria appears to have been stepped up in several ways since the civil war began in that nation.  In addition to providing protective suits, Pyongyang has been providing technical expertise for fabricating warheads and weaponizing the chemicals, and supplied parts vital for the process of matching the warheads to the missiles. It is important to note that, much like the chemical weapons factories, North Korea has also built at least one facility to fabricate Scud missiles in Syria.  The facility continues to function today ― as do the chemical weapons facilities ― with the aid of North Korean advisors. But there is far more.  According to Middle Eastern security officials, the North Koreans collaborated with the Iranians to direct an operations room that is advising Syria on its air defense systems ― an important role, as Syria braces for attacks from the United States. North Korea has also reportedly stepped up the number of personnel who are actually on the ground advising and supporting Syrian military forces.  As the Syrian military uses its weaponry against its own people, North Korean technical experts and logistics personnel are on the ground to supply badly needed repairs or new components, for both missiles and artillery ― in addition to the reported re-supply of small arms. Non-governmental organizations have spotted North Korean officers (who reportedly speak Arabic) at a number of locations, including chemical weapons facilities, and defense factories near Aleppo.  At one facility, there are so many North Koreans that they are said to live in an exclusive compound ― complete with a manicured lawn and a swimming pool. The United Nations Security Council, in a document released in 2012, definitively stated that the North Koreans have ― including during 2012 ― been actively engaged in proliferating chemical weapons technology, ballistic missile components, and expertise to maintain these weapons.  This has enabled the Syrians to effectively use these weapons against its own people. With the North Koreans providing Syria with ballistic missile components, small arms, chemical weapons and the expertise to use these weapons, and a stepped-up role in the number of advisors on the ground, one must wonder, why is the United States ― and the world ― not paying more attention?  (Continued at the link below) http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2013/09/197_142554.html

S Korea raises possible Syria-N Korea weapons link

I think it is very interesting that despite the policy of "trustpolitik" that South Korea has no qualms about calling north Korea on the carpet for its support to a regime nearly (but not quite) as brutal as its own.  The ROK is not going to coddle the north even as it negotiates on Kaesong, reunions, and tourism, even as it offers potential infrastructure development and humanitarian aid.   I think President Park knows how to deal with north Korea. I think we can learn some lessons from her.

V/R

Dave

 

TITLE: S Korea raises possible Syria-N Korea weapons link

POSTED: 05 Sep 2013 4:42 PMURL: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/s-korea-raises-possible/803090.html
South Korea's defence ministry on Thursday called for fresh attention to North Korean chemical weapons, suggesting such arms might have been traded between Pyongyang and Syria.

 

SEOUL: South Korea's defence ministry on Thursday called for fresh attention to North Korean chemical weapons, suggesting such arms might have been traded between Pyongyang and Syria.

The warning comes amid international outrage over the Syrian regime's alleged use of chemical weapons against its own people.

"We believe there has been a chemical weapons connection between North Korea and Syria," Defence Ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok told reporters.

Any link between North Korea and the attacks in Syria could further isolate Pyongyang, which is prohibited from international sales of its weapons under UN sanctions for conducting nuclear and missile tests.

Suspicions over chemical weapons trade between Pyongyang and Damascus have been raised in the past.

Concerns have grown since South Korea intercepted a North Korean shipment of protective gear on a vessel sailing near the southern port of Busan in 2009, Kim said.

Later that year Greece also seized almost 14,000 suits that provide protection from chemical weapons on a North Korean ship they believed was headed to Syria.

"Protective gear related to chemical weapons was traded," Kim said, declining to disclose details.

Japan's Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported last month that North Korea tried to export gas masks to Syria this spring.

Acting on the tip from the United States, Turkey intercepted a vessel carrying rifles, pistols, ammunition and gas masks, it said.

The North is believed to have up to 5,000 tonnes of chemical weapons deliverable by artillery or missile, Kim said.

(Continued at the link below)

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/s-korea-raises-possible/803090.html