Pyongyang, September 11 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry gave the following answer to a question put by KCNA Tuesday in connection with the fact that Israeli warplanes invaded Syria"s territorial air space:

Early in the morning of Sept. 6 Israel"s warplanes illegally intruded into the territorial air above Syria and dropped bombs in the desert in its northeastern area before fleeing.

This is a very dangerous provocation little short of wantonly violating the sovereignty of Syria and seriously harassing the regional peace and security.

The DPRK strongly denounces the above-said intrusion and extends full support and solidarity to the Syrian people in their just cause to defend the national security and the regional peace.

If 09/16/2007

If something bad is real, it would be real problem to anyone. If something bad is not real, it should still remain real problem to anyone. Blind spot is that you have to consider everything as real problem. It can be called a honorable bias of dignity.

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says that N Korea-Syria nuclear tie, if true, would be "real problem" as follows:

"If such an activity were taking place, it would be a matter of great concern ... because the president has put down a very strong marker with the North Koreans about further proliferation efforts.

"I think it would be a real problem."

1) Before taking a reciprocal action as promised, while seeing that the DPRK side completes a promised action satisfactorily, the US side seems trying another delaying step, like the one in the case of Banco Delta Asia, with the issue of non-proliferation, which has not been on the hexagon table in Beijing.

2) With spreading the suspicion on nuclear tie between Syria and the DPRK, the US and Israel seem trying to turn global attention to another direction although the Israeli air intrusion obviously violates the sovereignty of Syria and thus seriously worsens the regional situation.

Cloudy 09/16/2007

According to a AFP report through Googoole Search News, Syria"s official Ath-Thawra newspaper dismissed the North Korea allegations, saying they were being bandied about as a possible pretext for further attacks.

TKN 09/16/2007

DPRK diplomat dismisses reports of nuclear ties with Syria as "groundless"

Washington, September 15 (Yonhap) -- A senior North Korean diplomat on Saturday denied continuing allegations of his country"s nuclear cooperation with Syria.

"They often say things that are groundless," Kim Myong Gil, deputy chief of North Korean mission to the United Nations, told Yonhap over the phone, the first comment by a Pyongyang official on fresh allegations that broke out this week.

First 09/15/2007

The act of "leaking" seems an effort to derail the train of "thawing" that Bush rides.

The New York Times details further:

"The speculation about possible North Korean activities inside Syria is heightening the Bush administration’s concern about the future of its diplomatic efforts to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program. The Bush administration’s top negotiator for North Korea, Christopher R. Hill, said that the United States still planned to go ahead with an agreement for food and fuel aid to North Korea in exchange for its decision to dismantle its nuclear program.

"North Korea’s government took the unusual step of publicly condemning the Israeli strike. The Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua cited a North Korean Foreign Ministry official on Tuesday as calling the Israeli strike "a very dangerous provocation, little short of wantonly violating the sovereignty of Syria and seriously harassing the regional peace and security."

"Some who advocate a hard-line stance toward North Korea, including former top Bush administration officials, said that possible intelligence about North Korea’s efforts to aid Syria should halt diplomatic talks with Pyongyang." [website]

Third 09/14/2007

The third runner in this series is the Voice of America that quotes US DOS Spokesman Sean McCormack as follows:

"Our publicly-stated concerns about North Korean behavior, which ranges to proliferation, are out there.

"There are public documents from the intelligence community talking about proliferation in general, of which North Korea is a part. You have designations of [North Korean] entities that are involved in proliferation activities. You also have a Security Council resolution that is in force that addresses, in part, North Korea"s behavior."

US Says Concerns About North Korean Proliferation Remain
By David Gollust
Voice of America
September 13, 2007

Second 09/14/2007

The Washington Post ran after the New York Times as follows:

"North Korea may be cooperating with Syria on some sort of nuclear facility in Syria, according to new intelligence the United States has gathered over the past six months, sources said. The evidence, said to come primarily from Israel, includes dramatic satellite imagery that led some US officials to believe that the facility could be used to produce material for nuclear weapons.

"The new information, particularly images received in the past 30 days, has been restricted to a few senior officials under the instructions of national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley, leaving many in the intelligence community unaware of it or uncertain of its significance, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Some cautioned that initial reports of suspicious activity are frequently reevaluated over time and were skeptical that North Korea and Syria, which have cooperated on missile technology, would have a joint venture in the nuclear arena.

"Israel conducted a mysterious raid last week against targets in Syria. The Israeli government has refused to divulge any details, but a former Israeli official said he had been told that it was an attack against a facility capable of making unconventional weapons."

N Korea, Syria May Be at Work on Nuclear Facility
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 13, 2007; Page A12

First 09/14/2007

In a retard report on the Israeli airstrike in Syria last week, the New York Times quotes one anonymous Bush administration official who said that Israel took pictures of Syria"s possible nuclear installations that Israeli officials believed might have been supplied with material from North Korea.

US Confirms Israeli Strikes Hit Syrian Target Last Week
By Mark Mazzetti and Helene Cooper
Published: September 12, 2007

Doki 09/12/2007

"CNN was the first major news outlet to report on the Israeli attack in Syria. In recent days reports of what happened were carried mainly in the Arab press or came from Syrian statements.

"Despite the CNN reports and the Syrian statements, many questions remain, first and formost, what was the precise target of the strike the Syrians allege.

"The silence of the Untied States, Europe and especially the Arab world also raises questions. Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia did not denounce Israel, nor did they issue any statement on the subject.

"The only countries who expressed solidarity with Syria were Iran and North Korea."

CNN: Israel targeted arms delivery on Syrian soil destined for Hezbollah
By Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies, By Barak Ravid
September 11, 2007