North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un inspecting the newly-built Pyongyang bag factory, January 5, 2017. On August 22, the Trump administration announced its intention to cut $96 million in aid and delay $195 million in military funding to Egypt, citing concerns over Egypt's human rights record. The lack of clarity surrounding the veracity of the comments creates further pressure for the Egyptian government, which has faced increasing demands by one of its main allies and sources of foreign aid, the United States, to scale back its economic ties to North Korea. The daily newspaper, El-Masry El-Youm, initially published his comments in its print edition, but removed them in later iterations. Several Egyptian news outlets included Sobhi's comments in their write-ups about the trip, only to remove them later.
However, the Facebook statement did not include any information on the state of ties between Egypt and North Korea. When reached for comment, the Egyptian Army's official spokesperson, Tamer El Refeai, told Egypt Independent that all the details pertaining to Sobhi's visit to South Korea were listed on the spokesperson's official Facebook page. According to Yonhap, Sobhi said, "Egypt will actively cooperate with South Korea against North Korea acts that threaten peace." Confusion over the validity of the remarks arose when Egypt's government neither confirmed nor denied the report. The official South Korean news agency, Yonhap, reported that Egypt had already cut ties with the DPRK according to the Egyptian Defense Minister Sedki Sobhi. The alleged announcement and subsequent speculation, which was not immediately confirmed by the Egyptian government, comes as the United States and other members of the international community have repeatedly called on the Egyptian government to cut ties with the isolated hermit state. On September 12, during a visit to Seoul, South Korea, Egypt's Defense Minister reportedly announced that Egypt would be severing military ties with the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea. This article first appeared on the Atlantic Council site.
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