North Korea's multipronged gamble in Syria is failing

By Imran Khalid

The Syrian civil war is often framed as a proxy battleground for global powers, but one actor’s role has attracted fewer headlines: North Korea. Pyongyang's involvement in the Syrian war — from military assistance to weapons proliferation and covert alliances — reveals a strategic calculation based on Cold War-era alliances and a refusal of Western-led sanctions.

The Assad regime's collapse in late 2024 unraveled decades of secrets, exposing North Korea's level of entanglement in Syria and highlighting a perilous symbiosis between the two countries. North Korea initiated relations with Syria in the 1960s when Pyongyang provided military advisers and air defense systems to assist in Syria's wars with Israel. Their bilateral relations grew quickly under Bashar al-Assad, when North Korea helped Syria achieve nuclear capability. A secret nuclear reactor near Deir el-Zour built with Pyongyang's technical expertise and modeled after North Korea's Yongbyon facility was destroyed by Israel in 2007. The reactor’s destruction, which reportedly killed North Korean scientists who were at the site, marked a turning point, forcing both regimes to pivot toward subtler forms of collaboration.

North Korea began to be a lifeboat for Assad when the Syrian civil war started in 2011. Evading U.N. restrictions through front companies like Cheng Tong Trading Co., Pyongyang provided artillery, chemical weapon precursors and ballistic missile technology. According to a 2018 U.N. report, Syria's Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) received 40 illegal shipments of thermometers, valves and acid-resistant tiles critical for the production of chemical weapons. These transfers, masked as civilian projects, epitomized North Korea’s role as a “proliferation kleptocrat,” trading lethal expertise for hard currency.

Apart from supplies, North Korea deeply embedded itself into the dynamics of Syria's conflict. North Korean military advisers and engineers were assisting Assad's counterinsurgency operations. Syrian opposition organizations alleged in 2016 that North Korean special forces divisions nicknamed "Chalma 1" and "Chalma 7" were sent to strengthen government offensives. Though Pyongyang rejected these accusations as "misinformation," their credibility is supported by historical data: North Korea has a track record of deploying “regime support” forces to conflict zones, from Angola to Zimbabwe.

This participation had two aims. North Korean consultants brought many years of asymmetric military experience developed under sanctions and isolation to Syria. Syria also served as a testing ground for hybrid techniques — cyber warfare, drone technology and missile systems — that Pyongyang later included in its own military doctrine. Furthermore, the cooperation helped solidify relationships with Assad's friends, Iran and Hezbollah, building a tripartite axis defiant of the U.S.

North Korea’s most alarming contribution lay in Syria’s chemical weapons program. Despite Syria’s 2013 accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention, evidence mounted of continued chemical weapons use, facilitated by Pyongyang’s illicit transfers. Supposedly a civilian organization, the SSRC managed chemical weapon production sites at Masyaf, Dummar and Barzeh — the latter often frequented by North Korean technicians. These activities persisted even when international authorities linked Assad to atrocities such the 2017 Khan Sheikhoun gas attack using the chemical weapon sarin.

North Korea had a role that encompassed more than logistics. An Iranian defector, Gen. Ali Reza Askari, exposed the SSRC's cooperation with Pyongyang's Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation to develop nerve agent delivery systems. This nexus underscored a grim reality: the U.N. sanctions could not weaken the Pyongyang-Damascus ties as both governments used third-party intermediaries and other loopholes to evade them. However, North Korea took a strategic hit when the Assad government fell in December 2024. Pyongyang evacuated its embassy and cut off official relations as Syrian rebels took over Damascus, leaving behind vast amounts of classified records that might reveal years of cooperation on weapons of mass destruction. South Korea’s subsequent diplomatic overtures to Syria’s interim government have further marginalized Pyongyang, eroding its last Middle Eastern foothold.

Yet, North Korea’s Syrian gambit reveals broader ambitions. By aligning with Assad, Pyongyang sought to position itself as a linchpin of “anti-Western” solidarity, alongside Iran and Russia. But, this plan could backfire now. North Korea's diplomatic isolation is deepening as sanctions become sharper and Syria's rebuilding shifts toward the West, which may compel it to heighten its dependence on Russia and China. North Korea’s role in Syria transcends mere opportunism; it reflects a deliberate strategy to undermine U.S.-led hegemony through asymmetric alliances. The Syrian conflict became a laboratory for Pyongyang’s proliferation networks, testing the limits of international deterrence. Yet, the partnership’s unraveling post-2024 also highlights its fragility: authoritarian solidarity crumbles when regimes fall.

As the U.S. and its allies grapple with North Korea’s nuclear brinkmanship, Syria serves as a cautionary tale. Containing Pyongyang demands not just sanctions but dismantling the shadow economies that sustain its rogue statecraft. Until then, the world must reckon with the specter of a North Korea unshackled, its ambitions metastasizing like the chemical agents it helped proliferate in Syria. North Korea's involvement in the Syrian war has had profound and far-reaching implications, contributing to the protraction of the conflict and the suffering of the Syrian people. With the fall of the Assad regime and the emergence of a transitional government led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the dynamics in Syria have shifted dramatically. The international community now faces the complex task of rebuilding a nation ravaged by years of war. In this new landscape, it is crucial to address North Korea's role in the conflict and to prevent its further interference in Syria's future.

Dr. Imran Khalid ([email protected]) is a freelance contributor based in Karachi, Pakistan.