The North Korean and Iranian governments have been found guilty in a U.S. court of providing critical support and funding for a terrorist group that murdered and injured several Americans in 2006, according to court documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The American victims and their families are now legally permitted to request financial relief from both governments as recompense for the murders of their family members by the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, a U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., determined, according to a little publicized court opinion filed in July.
The district court determined that both North Korea and Iran are liable for the deaths as a result of their support for Hezbollah and its continued attacks against Israel, according to the opinion.
The court documents provide an unprecedented and detailed look into the deepening ties between Iran and North Korea, a rogue relationship that has received little attention from the media and Western governments.
Detailed evidence presented in the documents show how Iran and North Korea have established a complex terror network that has greatly bolstered Hezbollah’s military prowess and provided it with the arms and technology needed to attack Israeli citizens and others.
While the North Korea-Iran terror axis has existed for some time, the court documents present new details about just how closely the nations cooperate when it comes to promoting global terrorism.
"Though the focus of this opinion is on North Korea because this Court has never before addressed the country’s connection with Hezbollah, Iran, too, provided material support to Hezbollah for the rocket attacks," the opinion states.
The decisions stem from a long running legal campaign by the victims and their families to sue organizations and individuals responsible for helping Hezbollah wage terror attacks against Israel in 2006.
The court held that both Iran and North Korea "assisted Hezbollah" by funding its terror operation. Because of this ruling the American victims of terrorism who are suing both nations now have the right to seek financial recompense.
North Korea, the court found, "has directly supported terrorist organizations that have carried out attacks in Israel," according to the decision. "Among the terrorist organizations that North Korea has supported is Hezbollah, which is opposed to the United States and Israel and which is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization."
This evidence convinced that court that "Hezbollah carried out the rocket attacks that caused plaintiffs’ injuries and that North Korea provided material support."
Before the 2006 attacks by Hezbollah, North Korea worked with Iran to furnish money and weapons to Hezbollah, according to the court documents.
This included "professional military and intelligence training and assistance in building a massive network of underground military installations, tunnels, bunkers, depots, and storage facilities in southern Lebanon," the court discovered.
Additionally, North Korea worked closely with Iran and Syria to supply Hezbollah with rockets and other missiles through a complex terror network that ran through Tehran.
The first step in this terror operation began in North Korea, where illicit weapons and military components were gathered and sent to Iran, which then assembled the arms and illegally smuggled them to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon by way of Syria, the court determined based on evidence presented by terrorism experts Professor Bruce Bechtol and Barry Rubin, among others.
"These rocket and missile components were intended by North Korea and Hezbollah to be used and were in fact used by Hezbollah to carry out rocket and missile attacks against Israeli civilian targets," the opinion states.
North Korea was specifically cited for giving Hezbollah weapons, training, and the support needed to build tunnels that enabled it to carry out terror attacks.
North Korea’s support for Iranian terrorism has only increased since the 2006 attacks were carried out.
Iranian officials struck an agreement with the North Koreans the following year "for 100 Hezbollah field operatives to travel to North Korea to undergo training with the North Korean special forces, as well as counter espionage and intelligence training," according to the opinion.
North Korean expertise and technology also was used to give Hezbollah "critical assistance" in the construction of an "extensive and sophisticated fortified tunnel network" that ran along the border with Israel.
Additionally, many of the sophisticated M-600 rockets used by Hezbollah to strike deep into the populated Israeli towns were jointly supplied by Iran and North Korea, according to the court documents.