According to North Korea’s official media on Wednesday, a high-level economic delegation was en route to Iran for the first known talks between the two nations since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who is embracing the notion of a “new Cold War,” is pushing for increased collaboration with nations that the US confronts after his stepped-up nuclear testing caused the US and South Korea to step up their military exercises.
According to the official Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday, a group from Pyongyang, headed by Yun Jung Ho, the country’s minister of external economic relations, left on Tuesday for the Iranian visit.
Pyongyang and Tehran are among the few governments in the world that support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and both have been accused of providing Russia with military equipment.
The last known time North Korea sent senior officials to Iran was in August 2019.
Earlier this month, Kim hosted top Chinese official Zhao Leji, who heads the ceremonial parliament and ranks third in the ruling Communist Party hierarchy. It was the highest-level meeting between the countries in years.
On Wednesday, Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s powerful sister, slammed the latest rounds of U.S.-South Korean joint military drills and insisted that the allies will never break the North’s determination to build up “our overwhelming and most powerful military muscle.”
The statement comes a week after U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield called for the international community to be alert to the possibility of military cooperation between North Korea, Iran and Russia. Iran has been accused of providing drones to Russia for use in the war against Ukraine.
