SL received arms from NK–WikiLeaks

8 December 2010 01:50 am

Sri Lanka was among the other countries that North Korea sold arms, the latest document released by the Wikileaks website revealed.

The New York Times reported that “a US Diplomatic protests about North Korea's sale to Sri Lanka of rocket-propelled launchers and to Yemen of Scud missile launchers went unheeded in early 2009, cables show.”

The report also stated that US diplomats play a major role in trying to prevent arms from reaching world hotspots, but the secret document shows an uphill battle against the likes of Iran, Syria and North Korea.

In one cable given to the paper by WikiLeaks, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is reprimanded for supplying sophisticated weapons to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah one week after providing assurances he would not.

"In our meetings last week it was stated that Syria is not transferring any 'new' missiles to Lebanese Hezbollah," said the cable sent by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in February. "We are aware, however, of current Syrian efforts to supply Hezbollah with ballistic missiles. I must stress that this activity is of deep concern to my government, and we strongly caution you against such a serious escalation," Clinton stressed further.