Syria’s Bashar al-Assad ‘planning state visit to North Korea’

Controversial president reportedly admires
the ‘outstanding political calibre’ of Kim Jong Un

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The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) claimed
yesterday that Assad had confirmed his interest in making the state
visit during a meeting last week with North Korea’s newly
appointed ambassador to Damascus, Mun Jong Nam.

Assad reportedly said that “the world welcomes the remarkable
events in the Korean Peninsula brought about recently by the
outstanding political calibre and wise leadership of HE [His
Excellency] Kim Jong Un”.

The news agency did not specify when such a visit would take
place nor what its purpose would be. Syrian government officials
have yet to confirm North Korea’s claims.

It would be the first time Kim Jong Un has formally hosted a
head of state since taking power in 2011, the BBC reports. 

New York Magazine notes that Syria is “one of
the few countries that has maintained cordial diplomatic relations
with North Korea over the last few decades”, after the isolated
Asian country sent hundreds of troops to Syria to assist in its
fight against Israel during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. UN
reports suggest that Pyongyang may be supporting Syria’s current
chemical weapons programme.

In recent months, Kim has struck a conciliatory diplomatic tone
with other global leaders, holding meetings with Chinese President
Xi Jinping and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. This “flurry of
diplomacy”, as The Guardian dubs it, is expected to
culminate in a summit with Donald Trump in Singapore on 12
June.

However, receiving Assad – one of the White House’s key
adversaries – on a state visit would “risk raising Trump’s ire” and
possibly “derail” the US-North Korea summit, which has already been
cancelled and then resurrected, The New York Times says.

Many analysts are already sceptical about the supposed olive branch that Pyongyang appears to be
extending to its former enemies, and a visit from Assad would
be likely to severely damage Kim’s precariously balanced image in
the eyes of the West.

The UN Human Rights Council has accused Assad of
committing “gross violations of human rights and war
crimes” during the ongoing Syrian Civil War, and Syria is
considered a “rogue state” by the US government.

Commenting on the latest development, Sue Mi Terry, the Korea
chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in
Washington DC, said: “The optics are horrendous given that Kim Jong
Un is trying to posture as a good guy.

“Hosting Assad, one of the worst butchers on the planet, as your
first foreign leader visit is not a good PR move.”