South Korea Intelligence Suggests North Korea May Be Distancing Itself from Iran

Seoul. South Korea's intelligence agency has indicated that North Korea may be attempting to distance itself from its traditionally friendly partner, Iran.

South Korean lawmaker Park Sun-won shared this information on Monday following a parliamentary briefing held by the National Intelligence Service (NIS). According to him, no evidence has been found so far that North Korea has provided any weapons or materials to Iran.

Park stated that there are signs Pyongyang is seeking to maintain distance. He noted that North Korea did not send a condolence message when Iran's former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a US-Israel attack. Citing the NIS, he also mentioned that North Korea did not congratulate Mojtaba Khamenei as the new leader.

According to Park, this move could be an effort to secure new diplomatic opportunities ahead of the summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, which is expected to take place in May.

China is one of North Korea's closest partners. Another lawmaker, Lee Seong-kwon, also noted that North Korea appears to be refraining from directly criticizing Trump ahead of that meeting.