North Korea is distancing itself from longtime partner Iran and carefully managing its public messaging to preserve the possibility of a new relationship with Washington after the war, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service has assessed, according to lawmakers briefed by the agency.
The NIS told a closed-door parliamentary session that Pyongyang has sent no weapons or supplies to Iran since the conflict began on 28 February — and notably broke with diplomatic protocol by issuing no public condolences upon the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in air strikes. North Korea also sent no congratulatory message when Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was named as the new supreme leader, said lawmaker Park Sun-won, who attended the briefing.
While China and Russia have issued frequent statements on the conflict, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry has published only two toned-down statements since hostilities began — consistent, the NIS said, with Pyongyang’s recent pattern of avoiding direct criticism of US President Donald Trump.
The agency assessed the restraint as a deliberate effort to secure new diplomatic space, particularly in anticipation of an expected summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump in May.
Economic pressure compounds strategic calculation
North Korea is also feeling the economic strain of the Middle East crisis, the NIS told lawmakers, with disruptions to the procurement of industrial supplies, rising prices and a surging exchange rate. Pyongyang is separately seeking to secure Russian oil supplies.
The diplomatic signalling appears to have been set in motion at North Korea’s Ninth Workers’ Party Congress in late February, when leader Kim Jong-un said there was no reason the two countries “cannot get along well” — provided the US recognised North Korea’s status as a nuclear state and withdrew what he called its hostile policy.
The NIS assessed Kim had delivered the remarks deliberately, in his own voice, as a signal aimed at keeping relations with Trump in good standing and positioning Pyongyang for a new diplomatic chapter once the Middle East conflict subsides.
(Reuters)