CALDERON–CARDONA v. DEM. PEOPLE’S REP. OF KOREA
Cite as 723 F.Supp.2d 441 (D.Puerto Rico 2010)
sources, training, weapons, and refuge.
North Korea financed, armed and trained
the groups that perpetrated the Lod Airport Attack, while providing sanctuary to
the leadership of the JRA. The seeds of
the Lod Airport Attack were sown in 1970,
when Habash visited North Korea and met
with both the North Korean intelligence
agencies and the JRA leadership. (Exhibit No. 6, ¶ 44) And from 1970–1972 defendants consistently harbored JRA terrorists, trained terrorists, provided terrorists
with financial support, and otherwise provided material support to JRA and PFLP
activities and operations (Exhibit No. 6,
¶ 54). North Korea thus constituted the
nexus of a relationship that resulted in the
heinous murder and maiming of innocents
at Lod Airport. The Lod Airport Attack
was the logical consequence of North Korean foreign policy and its aspirations to
export communist ideology and revolution
throughout the West, and was viewed by
North Korea (as well as by the JRA and
PFLP) as a model operation and an important victory. (Exhibit No. 6, ¶ 53)
Prof. Rubin also testified at trial that
the JRA and the PFLP could not have
successfully perpetrated the Lod Airport
Attack without North Korean support.
He stated at trial that ‘‘Any terrorist attack depends on involvement of large
groups of people. You need the recruitment, you need the training, you need the
army, you need the provision of false documents which are credible, and TTT I think
it’s safe to say that the PFLP did not have
the capability to produce such false documents. That the only people who could
have produced it for them were the North
Koreans, who had a lot of experience in
this area. So there’s a whole large cast of
characters that stand behind an operation
in which three people are firing guns.’’
(Trial Transcript, Dec. 2, 2009, pp. 73–74)
Prof. Rubin further emphasized in his
testimony that the Lod Airport Attack was
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‘‘a very complex operation’’ in which terrorists had to infiltrate a ‘‘critically defended public facility in Israel, which is a country with strong defense and intelligence
capabilities,’’ and that North Korea’s direct
involvement was critical in enabling the
JRA and PFLP to plan the Lod Airport
Attack and for JRA terrorists to perpetrate the Lod Airport Attack. (Trial Transcript, Dec. 2, 2009, pp. 74–75) Prof. Rubin
explained:
‘‘So to do this, you have to create credible back stories; that is, cover stories
for the people involved, you have to
cover the tracks, you have to have them
in places where foreign intelligence cannot penetrate, to using secure lines of
communication that cannot be read.
The PFLP is not a country; it’s not a
government. Its capabilities are limited. So to—this is why terrorist groups
need state sponsors. Even in some
cases, the most important of them, especially at that period of time when these
things were more difficult, because if
you’re going to have a serious operation,
there’s simply a lot of things that a
terrorist group cannot handle on its
own. So that’s why they—they need to
find help from a government with unlimited money, with advanced printing
presses, with top quality communications that can’t be broken. I mean, if
the PFLP needs to send a telegram—if
they need to send a communication, they
need to have somebody help them because American codebreaking is very
good. So how do you get around that?
So this is why you need a state sponsor.’’
(Trial Transcript, Dec. 2, 2009, pp. 74–
75)
In summary, the analysis reflected in
Prof. Rubin’s testimony demonstrates to
the Court’s satisfaction that the JRA could
not have infiltrated Lod Airport nor otherwise perpetrated the Lod Airport Attack
without the material logistical, financial,