As It Conducts Nuclear Tests, North Korea Backs Mojtaba and Calls US Strikes on Iran ‘Illegal’

[The Financial News] North Korea has condemned attacks on Iran by the United States and the State of Israel as "illegal." Pyongyang also denounced outside interference in Iran’s domestic affairs and declared that the Iranian people’s right to choose their own leader must be respected.
On the 11th, according to The Associated Press (AP), a statement issued in the name of a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea criticized the US and Israeli military actions against Iran.
The spokesperson said, "Military attacks on Iran and interference in its internal affairs, along with openly calling for the overthrow of its social system, deserve worldwide condemnation."
North Korea also stressed that it respects the right of the Iranian people to choose their own leader. Iran recently selected Mojtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader.
On the same day, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim Jong Un had once again observed a strategic cruise missile test launch from the new 5,000-ton destroyer Choi Hyun-ho, which is about to be commissioned. It was the second time in roughly two weeks that he watched a missile test from the same warship.
That day, his daughter Kim Ju Ae, dressed in a leather jacket, sat right beside him watching the same screen. Ri Il-hwan and Kim Jae-ryong, both members of the Presidium of the Politburo of the Workers’ Party of Korea, stood behind them and observed the launch.
KCNA said the missile flew along a trajectory over the West Sea (also known as the Yellow Sea) for between 11,116 and 11,138 seconds before striking designated targets on individual islands.
According to KCNA, Kim Jong Un "expressed great satisfaction that the reliability of the national strategic weapons integrated command-and-control system and the superiority of the ship’s integrated combat system have been fully verified."
Foreign media outlets have noted that this latest display of North Korea’s naval power came after the death of Iran’s former supreme leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei and the US sinking of Iranian naval assets. AP analyzed that "by flaunting his military capabilities, Kim appears intent on sending the message that, unlike Iran, his warships can be armed with nuclear warheads."

km@fnnews.com Kim Kyung-min Reporter