Egypt: Cairo meets US demands, cuts military ties with Pyongyang

Egyptian Defense minister on a visit to South Korea has told host officials that the North African country has severed military ties with North Korea, meeting therefore a demand by the United States as condition to unfreeze military aid.

The announcement was confirmed to the public by the South Korean news agency Yonhap, which cited Sedki Sobhi as saying that Egypt “already severed all military ties with North Korea.”

“Egypt will actively cooperate with South Korea against North Korea’s acts that threaten peace,” Sobhi said according to Yonhap.

The Egyptian official met with his South Korean counterpart Song Young-moo who urged the North African country to bust military ties with the North and join the chorus of condemnations as well as backing sanctions against Pyongyang over its recent tests of ballistic and nuclear bombs.

Egypt and North Korea established good ties including military cooperation. The Asian isolated country sold Egypt weapons and helped it upgrade its arsenal of medium-range, and ground-to-ground missiles, the news agency noted.
Last march, South Korea and Egypt have signed an agreement on strengthening bilateral defense cooperation, and promoting substantive military exchanges and defense industry cooperation between the two sides.

The US, last month demanded that Cairo curbs its relations with Pyongyang and improves its human rights records before it releases some $300 million in military aid.