Syrian Envoy Slams US Airfield Attack 'Message' to North Korea
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Syria's ambassador to North Korea denounced US aggression and "history of interventions" on Monday and said sending a "message" to North Korea with an attack on a Syrian airfield was irresponsible.
North Korea has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN sanctions and has said it has developed a missile that can strike the US mainland. Its latest missile test on Sunday failed a few seconds after launch.
US Vice President Mike Pence put North Korea on notice on Monday, warning that recent US strikes in Syria, one of North Korea's few close allies, and Afghanistan showed that the resolve of President Donald Trump should not be tested, Reuters reported.
The US Navy this month struck a Syrian airfield with 59 Tomahawk missiles after a chemical weapons attack. On Thursday, the US military said it had dropped the largest non-nuclear device it had unleashed in combat on a network of caves and tunnels used by Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL) in Afghanistan.
Syrian Ambassador to North Korea Tammam Sulaiman said the United States was wrong to send messages with attacks on other countries.
"Whatever they do, this is clear aggression. If they want to mention this they ought to do this as a message or whatever, it has no sense to talk about this," he told Reuters, in English.
"Because what is sense is to see whether the US is really serious in finding solutions, whether in Syria or Korea. If they want to keep sending messages, then you are not talking with a responsible state or a responsible administration. It is not about giving messages, it is about taking a position."
North Korea's KCNA news agency on Monday carried a letter from leader Kim Jong Un to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad marking the 70th anniversary of Syria’s independence.
"I express again a strong support and alliance to the Syrian government and its people for its work of justice, condemning the United States’ recent violent invasive act against your country," Kim said.
Asked to what extent North Korea supported the Syrian military in its fight against rebel forces, Sulaiman said there was "nothing of military cooperation"
North Korea in 2013 denied it was sending military aid to the Syrian government after media reports said that Pyongyang had sent advisers and helicopter pilots.
Sulaiman said the "acquisition of nuclear weapons should not be a goal" for any country.
"But I can understand in the case of North Korea, I can understand why (it) is building its nuclear capabilities to face the American aggression, clear aggression."
