The totalitarian communist government of North Korea condemned President Donald Trump on Tuesday for ordering airstrikes on the Yemeni Houthi terrorist organization, intended as a response to an extended campaign to disrupt global shipping in and around the Red Sea.
The Houthis, formally known as Ansarullah, are a Shiite terrorist organization supported by Iran who currently control Sana’a, the nation’s capital. They are part of the “axis of resistance,” Iran’s regional network of proxy terrorist groups that includes Shiite gangs such as Hezbollah and Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) as well as Sunni groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Houthi terrorists declared war on Israel in October 2023 in solidarity with Hamas, which invaded Israel that month and engaged in a rampage of killing, gang-rape, torture, and other atrocities. The Houthis have primarily supported Hamas through attacks on random commercial ships attempting to transit near Yemen, a highly trafficked area due to the proximity of the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. While Houthi leaders claim they are only targeting ships linked to Israel or America, the terrorists have bombed dozens of ships at times, seemingly, at random, including ships associated with friendly countries such as Russia, China, and Iran.
The attacks have devastated global commerce. The terrorists have sunk two ships in the region – the Greek-owned MV Tutor and the British-owned Rubymar – and forced a large volume of commercial traffic to avoid the Red Sea, sending revenue at the Suez Canal plummeting and complicating transit around Africa. According to the White House, about 75% of U.S.- and U.K.-affiliated vessels have rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, a much more expensive and longer voyage.
Houthi leaders paused their Red Sea terror campaign in January in response to ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel, but announced plans last week to resume attacking ships in the region. In response, President Trump launched airstrikes meant to degrade the group’s ability to attack and has vowed severe retribution against further Houthi attack against both the terrorists themselves and their patrons in Tehran.
“To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” Trump wrote in a message confirming the airstrikes on his social media outlet, Truth Social, on Saturday.
“To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY! Do NOT threaten the American People, their President,” he continued, “who has received one of the largest mandates in Presidential History, or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
North Korea, which has no direct stake in the current Middle East conflict, weighed in on Tuesday through its ambassador to Cairo and acting ambassador to Yemen, Ma Tong Hui. Ma published a statement through the state propaganda Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) network parroting unsubstantiated Houthi claims that Trump killed “children and women” and accusing the United States of “hooliganism.” The statement entirely omitted any mention of Houthi terrorism.
“This military attack by the U.S. is a wanton violation of all international laws including the UN Charter and it is an open encroachment upon the sovereignty of other nation that can never be justified,” Ma claimed.
“I express serious concern over and strongly condemn and reject the illegal military moves of the U.S.,” the ambassador continued, “which is resorting to its exclusive and unilateral geopolitical ambition while gravely violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries through the violence of injustice in disregard of international law.”
Ma called for the rest of the world to “protest against the U.S. hooliganism seriously disturbing regional peace and stability, and the U.S. should stop at once such indiscriminate use of force that will invite its own international isolation.”
Ma did not mention that Ansarullah is a jihadist terrorist organization and that it is not the government of Yemen. The legitimate government of Yemen has been headquartered in the southern city of Aden since the Houthis seized Sana’a in 2014, triggering an ongoing civil war.
North Korea is not an active participant in the war between Hamas and Israel, or ongoing conflict between America and Iranian proxy forces. The communist dictatorship has for years, however, diplomatically supported Iran and the anti-Israel cause generally. Evidence has for years suggested that Pyongyang also profits from selling weapons to jihadist organizations in the region, including the Houthis.
In 2019, United Nations monitors issued a report to the Security Council accusing North Korea of violating sanctions on its illicit weapons industry through clandestine sales in the Middle East. The report named the Houthis as one of several entities seeking to buy military equipment from North Korea, also including insurgents in Libya and Sudan.
Following the October 7 Hamas attack on the Israeli homeland, the North Korea monitor site 38 North recalled that the Israeli and South Korean governments had long monitored a relationship between North Korea and Hamas. That relation was part of a broader network that connected North Korea to Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other Iranian proxies.
“In July 2015, South Korean intelligence officials revealed that the Houthis fired 20 North Korean-made Scud missiles at Saudi Arabia,” 38 North reported, noting that these missiles were likely not sold directly to the Houthis, as the legitimate Yemeni government had purchases such weapons from North Korea in the past and they were likely captured.
Since then, however, “a Houthi leadership figure invited North Korean officials to meet in Damascus in July 2016 and discuss technology transfers.”
“North Korea attempted to grant this request by using Syrian arms trafficker Hussein al-Ali to ship light weaponry to the Houthis,” the website detailed. “Despite reports that the Houthis modified North Korean Hwasong-6 Scuds for longer-range strikes on Saudi Arabia, United Nations Panel of Experts reports have stopped short of confirming wartime arms deliveries from North Korea to the Houthis.”
Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.
The post North Korea Defends Houthis from American ‘Hooliganism’ in Red Sea appeared first on Breitbart.
