Reacting to a New York Times article alleging that an unpublished United Nations report reveals that from 2012 to 2017 North Korea secretly shipped supplies to Syria that could be used to produce internationally banned chemical weapons, Lynn Malouf, Director of Research for the Middle East at Amnesty International, said: 



“Supplying any state with the means to produce these horrific weapons is utterly deplorable. But to help the Syrian government – which has repeatedly used chemical weapons against civilians – replenish its supplies would be a particularly egregious betrayal of humanity. 



“The UN should publish its report. If the report is accurate, it would represent an ominous marker of how far the crimes and violations committed by the Syrian government have eroded respect for long-established prohibitions.



“The use of chemical weapons has long been reviled by the international community and they are prohibited for very good reasons. We fear their repeated use in Syria could have terrible implications that extend well beyond this conflict.



“Clearly the current arms embargoes and inspection regimes are not working; the international community needs to make clear that the world will not stand for such flagrant violations of international law.”