Israel – North Korea relations

Israeli-North Korean relations are hostile. North Korea does not recognise the state of Israel, and has denounced it as an "imperialist satellite"; instead, it recognises the sovereignty of the Palestinian State over the territory held by Israel. Over the years, North Korea has supplied missile technology to Israel's neighbours, including Iran, Syria, Libya, and Egypt. Syria, which has a history of confrontations with Israel, has long maintained a relationship with North Korea based on the cooperation between their respective nuclear programs. On September 6, 2007, the Israeli Air Force conducted an airstrike on a target in the Deir ez-Zor region of Syria. According to Media and IAEA investigative reports, 10 North Korean nuclear scientists were killed during the airstrike.

The DPRK has, since 1986, prohibited Israeli citizens from entering North Korea. Israel has called for world action against North Korea's alleged nuclear weapons programme. It has been suggested that North Korea has sought to model its nuclear weapons programme on Israel's, as "a small-state deterrent for a country surrounded by powerful enemies; to display enough activity to make possession of a nuclear device plausible to the outside world, but with no announcement of possession: in short, to appear to arm itself with an ultimate trump card and keep everyone guessing whether and when the weapons might become available."

In May 2010 the Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman labeled North Korea as part of an 'Axis of Evil', he stated:

"This axis of evil that includes North Korea, Syria and Iran, it's the biggest threat to the entire world".