A man walks past replicas of a North Korean Scud-B missile (C) and South Korean Hawk surface-to-air missiles (L) at the Korean War Memorial in Seoul on May 29, 2017 (AFP PHOTO / JUNG Yeon-Je)

A man walks past replicas of a North Korean Scud-B missile (C) and South Korean Hawk surface-to-air missiles (L) at the Korean War Memorial in Seoul on May 29, 2017 (AFP PHOTO / JUNG Yeon-Je)
“Egypt was a consistent North Korean customer in the past,” Berger told the Post. “I would call them a ‘resilient’ customer today.”

Western diplomats said Egypt initially denied any connection to the weapons haul, then tried obfuscation.

The case exposes the difficulties faced by the international community in trying to use economic sanctions to pressure Pyongyang to give up its nuclear ambitions.

Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-Un, has managed to mitigate the crippling effect of the sanctions to some extent by continuing to sell cheap arms to countries such as Burma, Cuba, Syria, Eritrea and at least two terrorist groups, as well as key US allies such as Egypt, analysts told the paper.

The Post described that market as “a kind of global eBay for vintage and refurbished Cold War-era weapons, often at prices far lower than the prevailing rates.”

Quoting intelligence officials and Western diplomats, the report said Syria recently bought chemical weapons protective gear from Pyonyang and that the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah — a “long-term customer” — has acquired North Korean rockets and missiles.

North Korean rifles have even been found on the bodies of Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria, although according to US officials, they were probably stolen from stocks sold long ago to the late Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.

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