Iran–North Korea relations

Iran–North Korea relations

North Korea
Iran
Iranian embassy in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Iran–North Korea relations are described as being positive by official news agencies of the two countries. Diplomatic relations picked up following the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the establishment of an Islamic Republic. Iran and North Korea pledge cooperation in educational, scientific, and cultural spheres,[1] as well as cooperating in the nuclear program of Iran.[2] The United States has been greatly concerned by North Korea's arms deals with Iran, which started during the 1980s with North Korea acting as a third party in arms deals between the Communist bloc and Iran, as well as selling domestically produced weapons to Iran, and North Korea continues selling missile and nuclear technology to Iran. North Korea and Iran are the remaining two members of George W. Bush's "Axis of evil," which has led to many of the concerns regarding Iran–North Korea relations.

The Iranian-North Korean partnership did undergo occasional tension, however. Despite the two countries' shared antagonism to U.S. foreign policies, the specific national interests of the DPRK and the Islamic Republic of Iran were often considerably different from each other. For instance, North Korea, though it provided Iran with massive military assistance during the Iran-Iraq War (an act that induced Baghdad to break diplomatic relations with Pyongyang), made repeated attempts to normalize its relations with the Iraqi government. In 1982, the North Korean authorities secretly invited an Iraqi delegation to Pyongyang, but the Iraqi government sent only an unofficial representative. The talks ended in fiasco, but the fact that they occurred at all revealed that North Korea was reluctant to support Iran’s ideological crusade against Saddam Hussein to the hilt. The Iranian leaders, on their part, decided to maintain diplomatic relations with both North and South Korea, no matter whether the DPRK liked it or not. During the recent inter-Korean security crises (like the ROKS Cheonan sinking and the Bombardment of Yeonpyeong), Iranian news agencies usually quoted the statements of the Korean Central News Agency in parallel with the statements made by Western and South Korean politicians, without showing any detectable preference for either side.[3] Nor were the two states in full concord in adopting a position toward the various manifestations of international terrorism. On the one hand, both Iran and the DPRK provided military assistance to Hezbollah in Lebanon, and they actively sided with the regime of Bashar al-Assad against the Syrian wing of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant during the Syrian Civil War. On the other hand, North Korea and Iran held substantially different views about the conflicts in which the Taliban, the Boko Haram, and the Iraqi wing of ISIL were involved. While the DPRK stressed that U.S. efforts to suppress these organizations constituted interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Iraq, the Iranian leaders, who regarded Sunni Salafi extremism as a direct threat to their own interests, repeatedly accused America of not striving hard enough to eliminate these groups or even seeking to reach an agreement with them.[4]

Ambassadors

List of North Korean ambassadors to Iran

List of Iranian ambassadors to North Korea

Others

Military weapons

Since the 1980s North Korea has become known as a reliable supplier of arms to other countries including Iran. Weapons sales between North Korea and Iran increased significantly during the Iran-Iraq war.[13] This weapons sale relationship has expanded into further military cooperation including in the development of and exchange of nuclear technology. This relationship has also involved Syria.[14][15]

During the Persian Gulf War North Korea is said to have supplied Iran with a range of arms including artillery, anti-aircraft machine guns, mortars, ammunition, tanks, small arms, naval mines and anti-tank and surface-to-air missile systems.[16] In December 2009, in contravention of an arms embargo imposed on North Korea, a shipment of North Korean arms, said to be headed for Iran, according to the Congressional Research Service, was intercepted in Thailand.[17][18] These weapons included rocket launchers and surface-to-air missile parts.[17]

In addition to weapons, North Korea and Iran have an active exchange of military expertise particularly in relation to special operations and underground facilities.[14] North Korea is thought to have trained Iranian operators in these advanced infiltration techniques.[14]

In March 2013 North Korea and Iran, as well as Syria, blocked a UN Arms Trade Treaty[19] aimed at setting "standards for all cross-border transfers of conventional weapons".[20]

See also

References

Fitzpatrick, Mark. Iran and North Korea: The Proliferation Nexus. Survival, Vol. 48, No. 1 (2006), pp. 61–80.

Levkowitz, Alon. Iran and North Korea Military Cooperation: A Partnership within the 'Axis of Evil'. Iran-Pulse 10 (2007), pp. 1–3: http://humanities.tau.ac.il/iranian/en/previous-reviews/10-iran-pulse-en/117-10 .

  1. ↑ "Result of Iranian delegation visit to N Korea positive". IRNA. 23 January 2007. Retrieved 24 April 2007.
  2. ↑ Coughlin, Con (26 January 2007). "N. Korea helping Iran with nuclear testing". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-04-24.
  3. ↑ Balázs Szalontai, Cracks in the North Korea-Iran Axis. Elements of dissonance in the rhetoric of the Tehran-Pyongyang partnership. NK News, August 5th, 2014.http://www.nknews.org/2014/08/cracks-in-the-north-korea-iran-axis/ .
  4. ↑ Balazs Szalontai, "Consent, discord in North Korean, Iranian attitudes toward international terrorism," NK News, August 17, 2015. http://www.nknews.org/2015/08/consent-discord-in-north-korean-iranian-attitudes-toward-international-terrorism/ . Balazs Szalontai, "The specter of terrorism in North Korean, Iranian propaganda," NK News, August 25, 2015. http://www.nknews.org/2015/08/the-specter-of-terrorism-in-north-korean-iranian-propaganda/ .
  5. ↑ "DPRK ambassador to Iran appointed". Korean Central News Agency. 7 November 2000. Retrieved 24 April 2007.
  6. ↑ "DPRK Ambassador to Iran Appointed". Korean Central News Agency. 8 January 2004. Retrieved 24 April 2007.
  7. ↑ "Paek Nam Sun meets Iranian ambassador". Korean Central News Agency. 23 February 2001. Retrieved 24 April 2007.
  8. ↑ "DPRK-Iranian Cultural and Scientific Exchange Plan Signed". Korean Central News Agency. 19 January 2007. Retrieved 24 April 2007.
  9. ↑ PressTV - Iran favors enhanced ties with N. Korea
  10. ↑ N. Korean Supreme People’s Council speaker asks for broader ties with Iran
  11. ↑ "Rally and Film Show Mark Victory of Islamic Revolution in Iran". Korean Central News Agency. 11 February 2004. Retrieved 24 April 2007.
  12. ↑ "Kim Yong Nam Meets Iranian Delegation". Korean Central News Agency. 29 July 2006. Retrieved 24 April 2007.
  13. ↑ "Foreign Policy Goals - Military Assistance". October 1991. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  14. 1 2 3 "Iran North Korea: DPRK Is Ally of US Enemies in Middle East Nuclear, Missile, Arms and Engineering Sales". Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  15. ↑ John Larkin and Donald Macintyre (7 July 2003). "Arsenal Of The Axis". Time Magazine. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  16. ↑ "North Korea got third of hard currency from arms sales to Iran in early 80s: Aug 1984 declassified CIA Report". KorCon Collection. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  17. 1 2 "North Korea: Back on the Terrorism List?". CRS. 29 June 2010. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  18. ↑ Thomas Fuller and Choe Sang-Hun (31 January 2010). "Thais Say North Korea Arms Were Iran-Bound". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  19. ↑ MacFarquhar, Neil (28 March 2013). "U.N. Treaty to Control Arms Sales Hits Snag". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  20. ↑ "Iran, North Korea, Syria block UN arms trade treaty". Reuters. 29 March 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
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