North Korea said on Wednesday 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.
Gatekeepers News reports that state media, citing an unnamed spokesperson for Pyongyang’s foreign ministry, said the country recognises the Iranian people’s right to determine their leadership.
“We respect the rights and choice of the Iranian people to elect their supreme leader,” the spokesperson said in remarks carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The Islamic Republic recently 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.
Pyongyang, a longstanding rival of Washington, has previously condemned the US-Israeli strike on Iran as an “illegal act of aggression”.
In its latest statement, the North Korean official accused Washington and Tel Aviv of “destroying the regional peace and security foundations and escalating instability worldwide”.
The spokesperson further alleged that the two countries were violating Iran’s “political system and territorial integrity” and attempting to “overthrow its social system”.
Such actions, the official added, “deserve worldwide criticism and rejection as they can never be tolerated”.
The United States has led international efforts for decades to curb North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, though sanctions, diplomatic pressure and high-level summits have yielded limited results.
In recent months, the administration of US President Donald Trump has sought to revive talks with Pyongyang, with discussions of a possible summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year.
Trump said during a trip to Asia in October that he was “100 percent” open to meeting Kim again, although the North initially gave no response.
After months of silence, Kim recently suggested that relations between the two countries could improve if Washington recognised Pyongyang’s nuclear status.
Missile Test
Meanwhile, North Korean state media reported that Kim oversaw another test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from the naval destroyer Choe Hyon.
The country conducted a similar missile test from the vessel last week, claiming it is working to arm its navy with nuclear capabilities.
According to KCNA, Kim emphasised the need to expand a “powerful and reliable nuclear war deterrent”.
Photographs released by state media showed the North Korean leader monitoring the missile launch remotely alongside his teenage daughter, Kim Ju Ae, who is widely believed to be his likely successor.
Kim said the country had achieved “important successes” in the practical deployment of both “strategic and tactical strike means”.
South Korea’s intelligence agency has previously indicated that Pyongyang may be preparing to designate Ju Ae as the future leader, with the young girl increasingly appearing alongside her father at official events.
The missile launch came as the United States and South Korea began their annual joint military exercises, 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 launched last year as Kim seeks to expand naval capabilities with short-range tactical missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
According to analyst Yang Moo-jin, North Korea appears to be “securing the legitimacy and justification for bolstering war deterrence”.
He said Pyongyang is portraying the joint US-South Korea drills not as routine defensive exercises but as potential preparations for a pre-emptive war.
