North Korea, Iran, and Russia: Fueling Military Cooperation or Economic Relations?

North Korea has dispatched a high-level delegation to Iran, which was on the verge of a confrontation with Israel, and further issued a statement criticizing the Korea-U.S. joint exercises and downplaying Russia. Analyses are coming in some aspects that North Korea, Iran, and Russia are strengthening cooperation via missile technology and weapons.

On the 24th, the North Korean Workers’ Party newspaper reported that a delegation from the Ministry of External Economic Affairs led by Comrade Yoon Jung Ho left Pyongyang on the 23rd to visit Iran.

Experts are paying attention to the fact that the visit occurred immediately after a direct military confrontation between Iran and Israel. Professor Yang Moo Jin of the University of North Korean Studies interpreted this occasion as aiming at strengthening military cooperation disguised as economic cooperation. It could be aimed at strengthening military cooperation, and North Korea has sided with Iran in the Israel-Iran conflict. He also evaluated that North Korea has started earning foreign currency through military cooperation with Iran, following Russia.

The Workers’ Party newspaper issued a series of statements criticizing the Korea-U.S. joint practices and downplaying Russia, in the names of Deputy Director Kim Yo Jong and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of Russia, Lim Cheon Il.

In a statement titled “The enemy’s nonsense does not work on us,” Deputy Director Kim said, “The military exercises that the United States has conducted with its minions this year are over 80 times, and the exercises conducted solely by the Korean puppets are over 60 times,” and stated, “We can see who the culprits of the worsening regional situation are.” She added, “All these exercises are demonstrations to implement the US’s nuclear war scenarios against our Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”

Deputy Minister Lim also took Russia’s side in the Russia-Ukraine war, calling it a “just war to protect Russia’s sovereign rights and security,” and said, “No one can stop the advance of the heroic Russian army and people.”