North Korea has revealed that it respects Iran’s decision to appoint a new supreme leader, while accusing the United States and Israel of undermining peace and stability in the region.
Pyongyang, a long-time adversary of the United States, had earlier condemned the US-Israeli attack on Iran, describing it as an “illegal act of aggression”.
Iran on Sunday named Mojtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader following the death of his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on February 28.
The move came despite comments by US President Donald Trump indicating interest in influencing Iran’s leadership succession.
“We respect the rights and choice of the Iranian people to elect their supreme leader,” Pyongyang’s unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The official also accused the United States and Israel of “destroying the regional peace and security foundations and escalating instability worldwide”.
According to the spokesperson, Washington and Israel have violated Iran’s “political system and territorial integrity” and attempted to “overthrow its social system”.
Such actions “deserve worldwide criticism and rejection as they can never be tolerated,” the official added.
For decades, the United States has led efforts aimed at dismantling North Korea’s nuclear programme through sanctions, diplomatic pressure and summit diplomacy, but those moves have produced limited results.
ALSO READ: Toyota recalls 550,000 vehicles in US over seat defects
In recent months, the Trump administration has stepped up efforts to revive high-level talks with Pyongyang, with discussions about a possible summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year.
During a visit to Asia in October, Trump said he was “100 percent” open to meeting Kim, though the North did not immediately respond.
After months of silence, Kim later said the two countries could “get along” if Washington accepted Pyongyang’s status as a nuclear power.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s state media reported Wednesday that Kim supervised another test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from the naval destroyer Choe Hyon.
The country conducted a similar missile test from the same vessel last week, saying it was working on “arming the Navy with nuclear weapons”.
During the latest test, Kim stressed the need to strengthen a “powerful and reliable nuclear war deterrent,” KCNA said.
Photographs released by state media showed Kim monitoring the launch remotely through video footage alongside his teenage daughter, Ju Ae, who is widely seen as his potential successor.
Kim said “important successes” had been achieved in the practical deployment of “strategic and tactical strike means”.
South Korea’s spy agency has previously said Pyongyang appears to have begun the process of positioning Ju Ae as Kim’s successor, noting that the North frequently releases images of her accompanying the leader at official events.
The missile test came as the United States and South Korea began their annual spring military exercise, Freedom Shield, on Monday.
Pyongyang responded by warning the drills could bring “unimaginably terrible consequences”.
The Choe Hyon is one of two 5,000-ton destroyers in North Korea’s fleet. Both vessels were launched last year as Kim moves to strengthen the navy with short-range tactical missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
North Korea appears to be “securing the legitimacy and justification for bolstering war deterrence,” Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies, told AFP.
He added that, with the war in Iran ongoing, the North is portraying the joint US-South Korea drills “as not merely defensive and routine, but ultimately attempts at a preemptive war”.
(AFP)