Iran hails Korean summit, warns of US provocation

Iran has welcomed efforts by Korean leaders to ease tensions and normalize relations between the two states, saying the rapprochement could lead to peace in the region and the world.  

“Iran views the latest meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea as a responsible step in the right direction that could contribute to sustainable regional and global peace and security,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Saturday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South’s President Moon Jae-in met for the first time on Friday, shaking hands at the demarcation line separating their countries.

After their landmark meeting, the two officials issued a joint statement, saying they had agreed to end the 1950-53 Korean War, which stopped in an armistice but left them technically at war.

“South and North Korea confirmed the common goal of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula,” the statement read.

The two leaders further pledged to push for talks with the United States, and potentially China, in a bid to replace the Korean armistice with a peace treaty.

Qassemi said, “Iran’s principled and permanent policy is opposition to any production, possession, stockpiling and use of weapons of mass destruction and it has supported any efforts that lead to a world free of such weapons.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that the new and historic chapter in easing tensions in the Korean Peninsula should be continued vigilantly, bilaterally and without extra-regional countries’ interference and incitement,” he added.

Referring to Washington’s non-commitment to its international obligations, the spokesman stressed that Iran’s 40-year experience, especially with regard to its nuclear program, shows that the US administration is not a reliable partner and thus not qualified to decide on arrangements and equations between the two Koreas.

“Therefore, we deeply believe that the path of reducing tensions in the Korean Peninsula which the two Korean leaders have taken should be followed without involving American meddling and possible provocation in its arrangements,” Qassemi pointed out.