What's Known About Iran-North Korea Relations?

A high-level North Korean economic delegation embarked on a trip to the Islamic Republic of Iran on April 23, as per the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) Central News Agency.

The DPRK delegation led by Minister of External Economic Relations Yun Jung-ho traveled to Iran on Wednesday for the first time since 2019.

The top-level meeting immediately prompted speculations in the Western mainstream press that Tehran and Pyongyang's encounter has something to do with military cooperation.

While G7 members have no scruples about delivering weapons to warring parties all over the world, their respective media rushed to demonize Yun's trip to Tehran despite nothing suggesting that the economy minister went to the Islamic Republic to talk about security issues.

"While North Korea is unlikely to disclose further details about the trip, it highlights the military cooperation between the two countries and their defiance of the US over the years," Time Magazine claimed.

In What Spheres Do Iran & North Korea Cooperate?

The latest known visit of a North Korean delegation to Iran took place in 2019, ahead of the coronavirus pandemic. The group was led by Pak Chol-min, vice chair of the DPRK parliament, and lasted a week.

Subjected to unprecedented sanctions from the collective West and its allies, the two countries have maintained ties in energy trade, banking, agriculture, hi-tech, and cultural exchanges, to name but a few. Tehran and Pyongyang also conducted active diplomatic exchanges until the pandemic forced the DPRK to seal its borders.

Following the outbreak of COVID-19, the two joined ranks to tackle the emerging challenge under the conditions of harsh sanctions. According to the Tehran Times, the former head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Hamid Zadboum met with the North Korean Ambassador Han Song-u in September 2020 to discuss the expansion of banking and trade ties.

In particular, the two emphasized creating a favorable environment for their respective private sectors to boost economic development. The DPRK delegation also proposed that Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization and the North Korean Trade Development Committee establish a Joint Trade Committee to expand trade between the two sides.

How US Policies Pushed Iran and North Korea Together

Iran established diplomatic relations with the DPRK in 1973, whereas the Islamic Revolution of 1979 strengthened these ties which still had seen ups and downs in subsequent decades.

The Trump administration's Mideast and Asia policies accelerated Iran-North Korean rapprochement.

During his first term, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani – who inked the Iran nuclear deal with his American counterparts and several world powers in 2015 – moved to boost ties with South Korea and even subjected Pyongyang to criticism.

However, after Trump announced his intention to axe the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) commonly known as the nuclear deal, the Iranian leadership opted to join ranks with the DPRK. In August 2017, Kim Yong-nam, head of the DPRK's Supreme People’s Assembly, the nation's legislature, went on a ten-day tour to Tehran and attended Rouhani's second inauguration ceremony, a move that was largely seen as a sign of restored relations.

After the US withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and reinstated anti-Iran sanctions in August 2018, DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho took part in a high-profile summit with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Tehran to discuss joint efforts to thwart US sanctions and their negative consequences.

Ebrahim Raisi's win in the Iranian presidential elections in June 2021 further strengthened Iran-DPRK ties.

In December 2022, the two countries agreed to enhance academic, scientific and technological cooperation. According to the Tehran Times, Hashem Dadashpour, the Iranian deputy science minister, and DPRK Ambassador Han Song-u particularly discussed the exchange of professors and students, the promotion of the Persian language in North Korea and cultural exchanges.

In February 2022, the US Congressional Research Service claimed that North Korea had been indirectly supplied by Iranian crude as Pyongyang never pledged to abide by sanctions against Tehran following Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal. The US placed curbs on Iranian oil exports to strangulate the Islamic Republic's economy.

Iran and the DPRK could also join ranks to boost Syria's reconstruction. As per Al-Monitor, the Syrian-Korean Joint Technical Committee for Joint Industrial Cooperation held talks in August 2022 on restoring Syria’s production lines and machinery damaged during the Syrian war, whereas Iran has been providing construction materials to rebuild the Arab Republic's infrastructure.

'Axis of Evil': West's Deliberate Demonization

Following the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, Iran and North Korea were accused by the West of selling military equipment and munitions to Moscow. However, no evidence to back the allegations has ever been presented by Washington or its allies.

The Western press has also speculated about the Iran-DPRK military, nuclear and ballistic missile cooperation. 38North, a program of the Stimson Center focused on North Korea, alleges that the two countries exchanged technologies and designs to drive their ballistic missile programs.

A February 2021 UN panel of experts report argued that Iran’s Shahid Hemat Industrial Group (SHIG) could have had ties with North Korean entities and industries creating ballistic missiles. Iran's UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi shredded the accusations and condemned the UN Panel of Experts for using "false information and fabricated data."

Groundless accusations and suspicions cited by Western politicians, intelligence operatives and mainstream press have been routinely used to maintain a tough sanctions regime on Iran and North Korea, crippling their economic development in a bid to shatter their political and social structure and foment regime change. So far, none of these attempts have borne any fruit.