US Edition 
North Korea denies reports of missile deal with Hamas
Pyongyang accuses US of spreading propaganda as security officials say Islamists in Gaza will need to find new ways of replenishing stocks of rockets
North Korea has accused the West of a "sinister" plot to drag it into the Middle East conflict by fabricating stories it has forged a deal to supply missiles to Hamas.
The Communist regime said it was nonsense to suggest it had taken a cash down payment on a shipment for missiles and communications equipment for Hamas to replenish its arsenal and reeplace the rockets it is firing at Israel.
"This is utterly baseless sophism and sheer fiction let loose by the US to isolate [North Korea] internationally," North Korea's foreign ministry declared on Tuesday. "Lurking behind this propaganda is a sinister intention of the US to justify its criminal acts of backing Israel."
"Hamas is looking for ways to replenish its stocks of missiles because of the large numbers it has fired at Israel in recent weeks," said a Western security official. "North Korea is an obvious place to seek supplies because Pyongyang already has close ties with a number of militant Islamist groups in the Middle East."
The report was published days after a US court found that North Korea had armed the Lebanese terrorist group Hizbollah, providing weapons it used during the 2006 war with Israel.
"The US is working hard to deliberately link [North Korea] to the so-called 'terrorist organisations' defined by it in a bid to divert the focus of international criticism to Pyongyang," North Korea added.
Separately the UN blacklisted a North Korea shipping company for gun running after one of its ships was intercepted carrying fighter jets from Cuba across the Pacific Ocean.
"The concealment of the aforementioned items demonstrates intent to evade UN sanctions, and is consistent with previous attempts by the [North Korea] to transfer arms and related materiel through similar tactics in contravention of Security Council prohibitions," the UN said.
Samantha Power, America's UN ambassador, described the incident as "a cynical, outrageous and illegal attempt by Cuba and North Korea to circumvent United Nations sanctions".
Experts believe the North Korean regime uses arms sales to generate foreign currency for its bankrupt economy.
"The incentives are there to sell arms to earn hard currency," Daniel Pinkston, a Northeast Asia expert at the International Crisis Group, told Time magazine. "Hamas has an incentive to buy."
In addition to the intercepted ship in the Pacific, a cargo flight impounded in Bangkok five years ago carried 35 tons of weapons bound for Iran. Ultimately the experts concluded the arms would be shipped to Hizbollah.