Seoul, South Korea. A high-level North Korean economic delegation was on its way to Iran, North Korean state media said on Wednesday, for what would be the first known talks between the two countries since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Embracing the idea of a “new Cold War,” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is pushing to strengthen cooperation with countries confronting the United States, as his intense weapons tests led the United States and South Korea to expand their military exercises.
The Pyongyang delegation led by Yun Jung Ho, North Korea’s minister of foreign economic relations, left on Tuesday to travel to Iran, the official Korean Central News Agency said on Wednesday. State media did not immediately provide further details.
Pyongyang and Tehran are among the few governments in the world to support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and both have been accused of providing Russia with military equipment.
The last time North Korea is known to have sent senior officials to Iran was in August 2019, when a group led by Pak Chol Min, vice president of Pyongyang’s parliament, made a week-long visit. The two countries maintained active diplomatic exchanges until North Korea sealed its borders in an effort to prevent the pandemic, before a cautious reopening in 2023.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles affairs with the North, had no immediate comment on Yun’s visit to Iran.
North Korea has made efforts for months to raise the visibility of its ties with Russia and China as Kim tries to break his diplomatic isolation and join a united front against the United States.
In 2023, Kim visited Russia’s Far East for a rare summit with Putin, which highlighted the countries’ growing military cooperation, including alleged transfers of artillery shells, missiles and other munitions by the North to Russia.
Earlier this month, Kim hosted senior Chinese official Zhao Leji, who heads the ceremonial parliament and is third in the ruling Communist Party’s hierarchy. It was the highest-level meeting between the countries in years.
On Wednesday, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, sharply criticized the latest rounds of joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea and insisted that the allies will never break the North’s determination to develop “our overwhelming military muscle and more powerful”.
The statement comes a week after US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield asked 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.
“We are concerned about … the Iranians providing weapons to the Russians and the Russians also supporting efforts to help (North Korea) expand its own weapons development research. And certainly, that would be the case for Iran as well,” he said.