North Korea has long supported the Palestinian liberation movement and the various political organizations that have represented this cause. Since 1988, Pyongyang has officially recognized Palestine as the legitimate authority of all territory held by Israel, except for the Golan Heights. Pyongyang views the Israeli government as imperialist lackeys of Washington and the Palestinians as oppressed peoples fighting for their freedom.

The regime has also sold weapons and military equipment to groups involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and thus earned much-needed foreign currency. Ideologically, Pyongyang demonstrates its revolutionary credentials as an anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist stalwart by supporting the Palestinian militants. North Korea’s support of Palestinian extremist groups, such as Hamas, can also be linked to the Kim family regime’s anti-American and anti-Western ideology.

During the Cold War, North Korea’s state media regularly mentioned the bravery and revolutionary exploits of the Palestinian “freedom fighters.” However, the North Korean government also went beyond rhetorical solidarity and provided the left-leaning Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) with military support. In September 1970, PFLP leader George Habash visited Pyongyang in order to request further support from his North Korean comrades. The North Korean military also provided guerilla warfare training to a number of Palestinian insurgents including Abu Daoud, a leader of  Black September, the militant Fatah splinter roup that killed 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), made several visits to Pyongyang and seemed to regard the Kim family as an important ally of anti-Zionism. A year after Arafat’s declaration of independence for the State of Palestine in 1988, the PLO leader visited the DPRK in order “to deepen the traditional cooperation” between the two countries. Arafat meant political and military cooperation, in particular the training of several hundred Palestinian airborne troops by North Korean special forces and supplies of North Korean arms.

In the 1990s, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il formed a personal relationship with then-Palestinian ambassador to the DPRK Mustafa Safarini. They were so close that Kim personally helped the ambassador and his wife with fertility treatment in the DPRK. With the help of the “Dear Leader,” the couple eventually gave birth to a baby girl in Pyongyang, with Kim Jong Il personally suggesting the Korean name “Jindallae.” Jindallae is now grown up and a vocal supporter of the Kim family regime on social media.

North Korea likely continued supplying weapons to Palestinian groups through the 2000s. Thai authorities found North Korean-made weapons, including surface-to-air missiles and rocket launchers, in a Georgia-registered plane at the Bangkok airport in 2009. The plane was likely headed to Iran, and the weapons were probably for Hamas and Hezbollah.

In 2014, journalist Con Coughlin claimed that Hamas paid Pyongyang hundreds of thousands of dollars for missiles and communications equipment. According to Israeli military technicians cited in Coughlin’s report, North Korean experts also advised Palestinian militants on tunnel-building in Gaza.

That same year, arms control researcher Andrea Berger also noted that North Korea is adept at producing the kinds of arms that Hamas and Hezbollah most need. Her research points to North Korean capacity to manufacture 240mm and 120mm multiple rocket launchers, associated rockets and fuses, AK-47s and ammunition, RPG-7s and a variety of warheads, as well as surface-to-air missiles.

Based on imagery analysis, North Korea seems to have sold anti-tank guided missiles to Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. Analysts Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans observed that the group likely received the missiles from North Korea via Iran “through an elaborate network of smugglers and backdoor channels ranging from Sudan to the Gaza Strip.” Mitzer and Oliemans have recently reported that limited quantities of North Korean-made Bulsae-2 anti-tank guided missiles and F-7 rocket propelled grenades are most likely being used by Hamas as well.

While it’s unclear how or if illicit weapons are still being transferred during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pyongyang continues to embrace Palestine as brothers-in-arms and the leaders of the two countries still celebrate and acknowledge each other warmly. North Korea’s solidarity with the Palestinian cause is both pragmatic and ideological.

By supporting the Palestinian liberation movement and anti-Zionism, Pyongyang gains diplomatic status and recognition in the Arab world. This is a valuable diplomatic link for the increasingly isolated Kim regime.

Edited by Arius Derr