Less than two months after a landmark US-North Korea summit in Singapore, North Korea’s foreign minister apprised President Hassan Rouhani of the historic summit.
In a meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, Ri Yong-ho “presented a report on the North Korea-US talks in Singapore and the latest developments on the Korean peninsula”, president.ir reported.
In a landmark summit with US President Donald Trump on June 12, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who is seeking relief from tough sanctions, committed in a broad statement to work toward denuclearization, but Pyongyang has offered no details as to how it might go about this.
Trump hailed the Singapore summit as a success and went so far as saying that North Korea no longer posed a nuclear threat. But questions have been mounting about Pyongyang’s willingness to give up its weapons programs, Reuters reported.
US Not Trustworthy
President Hassan Rouhani told the visiting North Koran official that the US cannot be trusted as it has a long history of reneging on its pledges.
“The US government’s record in recent years has led to it being considered an unreliable and untrustworthy country that does not stick to its commitments.”
Developments on the Korean peninsula are important to Iran, the president told the senior Korean official, whose visit came shortly after Washington reintroduced new sanctions against Tehran following Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal.
US-N. Korea Talks
The North Korean minister said on Saturday that he was increasingly alarmed by US attitude toward Pyongyang but said it remains firm in its determination to implement the nuclear deal it reached with Washington in June.
The US and North Korea pledged to end the North’s nuclear program and establish peace on the Korean peninsula in the rare agreement reached by Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Bilateral Ties
Rouhani told Ri that Iran is keen to expand its international relations, including with Pyongyang.
“Iran and North Korea have expressed similar views at many sensitive junctures in the international arena and at global forums and have always supported each other,” he recalled.
The Pyongyang official briefed the president on the latest developments on the Korean peninsula and said his country’s policy is to strengthen relations with the Islamic Republic and oppose unilateralism.
He criticized the US departure from the nuclear agreement and the reimposition of sanctions against Tehran, saying that they are in violation of international law.
Important Messages
Political observers maintain that more important matters could be on the agenda of Iran-North Korea talks. “Currently, the two countries are in the same boat so far as US sanctions are concerned,” a diplomatic source was quoted as saying by South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper.
“They’ll try to send a message that they won’t give in to US pressure while calling for further developing their long-standing friendly relationship,” the unidentified official said.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently pressed Southeast Asian nations at regional meetings in Singapore to maintain sanctions on North Korea until Pyongyang produces results.
Oil Imports
Pyongyang’s dispatch of its chief diplomat to one of the world’s largest oil-producing countries comes at a time when it has difficulties importing oil, the paper wrote. The UN Security Council has capped exports of refined oil products to North Korea at 500,000 barrels and crude oil to 4 million barrels a year and Pyongyang is seeking to diversify oil import sources, according to the Chosun Ilbo.
“Iran has a surplus of oil but can’t sell much in the face of US sanctions,” an unnamed researcher with a government-funded think tank said, adding that the North may discuss ways to import crude from Iran, possibly through a third country like China.
Diplomatic Freedom
Bloomberg wrote on Wednesday that Ri’s meetings in Tehran underscore the challenges facing the Trump administration’s efforts to pressure the nations to curb their nuclear programs.
