North Korea made an offer to Israel in 1999 to scrap its agreements to provide missile technology to its chief enemies – if Israel paid $1 billion in cash, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The new information comes from former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong Ho – who defected to South Korea in 2016.

Thae said the offer was made by North Korea’s ambassador to Sweden, Son Mu Sin, to his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Ben Ami, at a Stockholm cafe in 1999. The report says Israel turned down the deal, but it did offer to send aid in the form of food and supplies to North Korea a few days later.

The talks ended without an agreement, and North Korea remained a steady supplier of missile technology to countries like Iran and Syria.

This account demonstrates how North Korea has tried to use the threat of spreading its nuclear weapons and knowhow in order to blackmail its enemies and obtain cash to fund its missile and nuclear programs.

Israeli officials declined to response to the account by Thae.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)