TOKYO: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday accused North Korea of creating a world-threatening "axis of evil" with Iran and Syria by supplying them with weapons technology.
The firebrand politician also warned that Iran’s suspected quest for nuclear weapons could spark a Middle East atomic arms race with potential consequences of the likes "we have seen only in the horror movies in Hollywood."
Lieberman had relayed similar warnings to Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Tuesday during his visit to Tokyo, accusing nuclear power North Korea of supplying Syria with weapons of mass destruction.
"This axis of evil that includes North Korea, Syria and Iran is the biggest threat not only to Israel but to the entire world," Lieberman said at a press conference in Tokyo.
He referred to the seizure in Bangkok last December of an arms shipment from North Korea "with huge numbers of different weapons with the intention of smuggling these weapons to Hamas and to Hezbollah".
US intelligence said the plane was bound for an unnamed Middle East country.
Israel is widely regarded as the only nuclear armed nation in the Middle East with an estimated arsenal of 200 warheads but it has a policy of neither confirmation nor denial.
Lieberman also referred to "the missile programs of Iran and Syria with crucial assistance from the North Korean side."
"All this cooperation between North Korea and Syria cannot improve the economic situations in their countries but only (serve) to develop the weapons of mass destruction," he said.
He also warned that Iran, which the West suspects is seeking to build a nuclear bomb despite repeated denials, is the biggest threat to world peace and called for tough UN sanctions against Tehran.
"Iran is not Israel’s problem. It’s the biggest threat to the entire world. You must understand, if Iran obtains nuclear weapons capability, we will see a crazy nuclear arms race in all our region," he said.
"Our role regarding the Iranian issue is to give a signal (to) the world that today it is the biggest threat, like in the 1930s the Nazi regime was the biggest threat for the entire world."
Israel has accused North Korea in the past of transferring nuclear technology to Syria, which remains technically in a state of war with the neighboring Jewish state.
