North Korean soldiers carrying packs marked with a radioactive symbol take part in a 2013 military parade in Pyongyang. North Korea has been selling small arms around the world to bring in the hard currency it needs to survive. Using a “flag of convenience,” as the tactic is called, allows North Korean ships to avoid drawing unwanted attention in international waters. Other long-term customers are nonstate actors such as the militant group Hezbollah, which has acquired North Korean rockets and missiles from arms smugglers and sympathetic regimes. “Egypt was a consistent North Korean customer in the past,” Berger said.

Source: Washington Post October 01, 2017 22:07 UTC