North Korea's Kim Jong Un sent a letter congratulating Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the 70th anniversary of the country's ruling Ba'ath party, according to Pyongyang's news agency KCNA. The message was sent on Thursday, before U.S. President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes against Syria.
Kim congratulated Assad's party for achieving "great successes in the creation of an independent and prosperous country and ensuring regional peace and security." The North Korean leader also described the Ba'ath party as "resolutely resisting foreign and domestic enemies in the ongoing fight for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria," reconfirming the anti-U.S. stance common. In his message Kim said that over the past 70 years the Ba'ath party "has achieved great successes in the creation of an independent and prosperous country and ensuring regional peace and security."
Un added that under the leadership of President Assad, the Ba'ath party "is resolutely resisting foreign and domestic enemies in the ongoing fight for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria." Kim Jong-un pledged "continued and unwavering support for and solidarity with the Ba'ath party and the Syrian people. He also voiced confidence that "the relations of friendship and cooperation between the Korean Workers' Party and the Ba'ath party, between the peoples of our two countries, forged in their joint struggle against imperialism, will only get stronger and stronger." The message was sent on Thursday, before U.S. President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes against Syria.
Kim congratulated Assad's party for achieving "great successes in the creation of an independent and prosperous country and ensuring regional peace and security." The North Korean leader also described the Ba'ath party as "resolutely resisting foreign and domestic enemies in the ongoing fight for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria," reconfirming the anti-U.S. stance common to both regimes.North Korea may have also helped Syria build a nuclear facility destroyed by an Israeli air raid in 2007, and Syria once dedicated a park to former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung.
In the past few days, the United States and the Asian neighborhood have once again been abuzz with the recent bellicose rhetoric coming from Pyongyang. Some, like the editors of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, think that North Korea's saber-rattling is a result of paranoia common to many authoritarian regimes. I generally agree with this prevailing view, but my opinion has a slightly different nuance.The U.S. air strike, which included the firing of 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles into a west Syrian airfield, has been condemned by Russia and China.
Beijing foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Friday that China stresses "dialogue as a means to resolve disputes peacefully," and that Beijing is "concerned about the situation in Syria." Trump ordered the airstrike ahead of his summit with Xi on Friday, when North Korea's provocations and Chinese pressure on Pyongyang are likely to be raised as topics of discussion.
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