N. Korea: US using new base in Israel to control Mideast

North Korea has accused the US of using a newly built American military facility in Israel in order to control the Middle East as part of its plan for “dominating the world.”

In an article in the official Rodung Sinmun newspaper on Wednesday, the North Korean regime said the new US air-defense facility in the Negev desert, which was inaugurated last month, was “arousing bigger concern in the world community” and was proof of Washington’s alleged intentions to control the Middle East and the rest of the world.

“This is a revelation of the US invariable ambition for dominating the world,” it said, according to Newsweek.

“It is nonsensical for such ringleader of aggression to talk about ‘international peace,'” the article added.

The newspaper article also accused US President Donald Trump of “megalomania” for proposing a nearly $100 billion increase in defense spending.

Although North Korea regularly rails against the US, with tensions between the two countries sky high of late over Pyongyang’s nuclear program, it does not often assail the US over its Middle East policies or strike out against America’s close ally Israel.

In April, however, North Korea threatened to “mercilessly punish” Israel after Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman remarked that its nuclear weapons program posed more of a threat to world order than Iran or any terrorist group.

Pyongyang also condemned Israel at the time for its nuclear policy, and accused the Jewish state of abusing the rights of Arabs across the Middle East.

Although located far from its borders, North Korea has long taken a hostile stance toward the Jewish state and provided military assistance to Israel’s enemies, including during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

North Korea is also alleged to have helped Syria construct a secret nuclear reactor, which foreign media reports have said Israel destroyed in an airstrike in September 2007.

Analysts noted at the time the similarities between Syria’s al-Kibar reactor and North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear facility.

Israel also has accused the North Korean regime of collaborating with Iran on the development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, as well as providing military assistance to the Hezbollah terror group.