Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions demand collectively applied pressure and engagement. Last summer, Iran conducted another missile launch similar to a North Korean Musudan, the most advanced missile Pyongyang has successful … South Korea’s optimism for the latest diplomatic efforts with Pyongyang are less baffling through a historical lens. Kim and Trump exchanged insults and threats of war during a highly provocative run in North Korean weapons tests in 2017. John McLaughlin is the former deputy director of the CIA. FILE - … Trump Bet He Could Isolate Iran and Charm North Korea. But then in 2018, Kim initiated diplomatic talks with Washington and suspended nuclear and long-range missile tests. Washington’s decision not to retaliate against Iran’s interception of a U.S. surveillance drone last June could have emboldened Pyongyang, which possibly concluded it wouldn’t have to fear U.S. military action as long as it avoids directly threatening American lives or more crucial assets, some experts say. FILE - In this June 12, 2018, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, right, meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Sentosa Island, in Singapore. Comparing the North Korea and Iran Nuke Deals Expert explains the parallels between the deal that let North Korea get the nuke and the Iran deal, details South Korea's concerns. And in the early part of the last decade, North Korea helped Iran’s ally Syria build a nuclear plant, destroyed by Israel in 2007. But it is fair to say that some level of nuclear collaboration has been underway for more than a decade. Iran has built a new warship that might have North Korean DNA, like the ship above. Eventually, our diplomats will have to treat the two as a “package deal” because of the close ties the two countries have nurtured over decades — ties that can give each some bargaining leverage and some insulation from Washington’s efforts to pressure them or deny them access to expertise and material. Iran and North Korea cooperated on long-range missile development projects last year, according to a confidential United Nations report that may … American diplomats must now turn their sights to diplomacy to rein in a nuclearized Pyongyang. President Trump’s extensive use of Twitter to issue diplomatic threats leaves one country the most vulnerable: the U. While the killing of Soleimani may give Pyongyang pause about provoking the Trump administration in such a way, the North ultimately is likely to use the strike to further legitimize its stance that it needs to bolster its nuclear arsenal as a deterrent against American aggression. Pyongyang is much further along than Iran on both nuclear weapons and missiles. The opening came after months of concerns that the Trump administration could consider preventive military action against the North. Monitors believe Pyongyang is using money stolen in cyber-hacks to fund the programme and might be getting help from Iran. Iranian acquisition of this engine could hasten its efforts to increase the ranges of its missiles, which currently top out at 1,200-1,800 miles. Washington needs a plan for leveraging success with both Tehran and Pyongyang. The U.S. killing of Soleimani will make the North more hesitant about crossing a metaphorical “red line” with the Trump administration by restarting such tests, said Du Hyeogn Cha, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Kyung Hee University. In the 1966 World Cup, North Korea played their matches at Middlesbrough's home ground Ayresome Park, when the team caused an upset, beating Italy 1–0 to gain a spot in the quarter-finals. As a practical matter, the U.S. has to tackle nuclear issues one at a time, but it is very hard to separate Iran’s nuclear and missile ambitions from those of North Korea. Kim Jong Un may have different ideas. The U.S. strike that killed Iran’s top military commander may have had an indirect casualty: a diplomatic solution to denuclearizing North Korea. There are views that North Korea’s measured brinkmanship of 2019, highlighted by tests of shorter-range weapons and defiant statements on overcoming U.S.-led sanctions, were influenced by Tehran’s calibrated provocations against Washington, which coincided with efforts to retain European countries participating in the 2015 deal. North Korea will learn from Iran's experiences. Although experts assume the North can attach nuclear warheads to its missiles, they doubt it has an effective guidance system or has mastered the technology to ensure the survival of its final stage through the heat of atmospheric reentry. Each side has expertise the other wants — Iran on uranium centrifuge enrichment (North Korea relied on plutonium in its early nuclear work), and North Korea on nuclear warhead design. The North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper published more than 30 articles analyzing the U.S.-Iran tensions since last August, reflecting the keen interest of Pyongyang’s decision-makers, Hwang Ildo, a professor from South Korea’s National Diplomatic Academy, recently wrote. So far, Iran has stuck to its position that the U.S., as the party that left the accord, is obliged to first lift all the sanctions before Iran has to do anything. As Congress gears up to debate the Iran nukes deal, former CIA chief John McLaughlin looks at the risks. There are no comparable talks currently planned with North Korea, but the Biden administration continues to weigh the options. But Kim gave no explicit indication that he was abandoning negotiations entirely or restarting the suspended tests. Data reveals how Beijing has drastically cut exports of key materials to Pyongyang. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Iran has now accumulated about 12 times the enriched uranium permitted under the 2015 agreement, steps Iran says it can reverse — for a price. North Korea’s initial reaction to the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani has been cautious. The U.S. strike that killed Iran’s top military commander may have had an indirect casualty: a diplomatic solution to denuclearizing North Korea. As for Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad certainly sounds like a threat. The country’s leader is volatile and his arsenal is stronger than ever. “North Korea would say that the ‘imperialist’ nature of the United States would never change, and that there is no other option for them other than to strengthen its nuclear deterrent while bracing for long-term confrontation,” said Koh, an adviser to current South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Such missiles would pose a threat to its neighbors, and perhaps even the United States. The North has recently pointed to that lack of progress and hinted it may resume tests of nuclear bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles. Iran and South Korea are in talks after Iran's Revolutionary Guards captured the MT Hankuk Chemi, a South Korea-flagged tanker, in the Strait … "The airstrike does serve as a warning to North Korea about taking extreme actions as the presumption that the Trump administration refrains from using military force when concerned about consequences has been shattered,” said said Cha, an ex-intelligence secretary to former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. Experts say the escalation of tensions between Washington and Tehran will diminish already fading hopes for such an outcome and inspire North Korea’s decision-makers to tighten their hold on the weapons they see, … President Donald Trump said on Monday that Iran and North Korea have "tremendous potential" he hoped to help them achieve should they reach deals … The White House faces tough challenges on the international stage this year. FOX News senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot joins 'Special Report' with the latest from London Read breaking headlines from North Korea covering Kim Jong-un, global relations, and more. Finals. Experts say the escalation of tensions between Washington and Tehran will diminish already fading hopes for such an outcome and inspire North Korea’s decision-makers to tighten their hold on the weapons they see, perhaps correctly, as their strongest guarantee of survival. President Trump is facing dual nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea, and is reacting strongly to one but saying little about the other. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File). North Korea found success in … North Korea and Iran signed a technological agreement in September 2012. The talks with Iran are exploratory and indirect, meaning American and Iranian representatives are not always be at the table but will communicate on a menu of options through diplomats from the U.K., France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union. In 2016, the Obama administration treasury department issued a sanctions notice indicating that Iran and North Korea were working on a large rocket engine that appears to … On the nuclear front, much of the information is fragmentary and given more weight by U.S. opponents of the Iran nuclear accord than by its advocates. The North also appears close to achieving a workable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) based on tests it conducted in 2017. N Korea further developed nuclear weapons programme in 2020: UN. The U.S. strike that killed Iran’s top military commander may have had an indirect casualty: a diplomatic solution to denuclearizing North Korea. Since Trump’s withdrawal from the accord in 2018, Iran has begun enriching uranium to higher levels and in larger quantities than the agreement permits. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? The country’s state media was silent for several days before finally on Monday issuing a brief report on the attack that didn’t even mention Soleimani’s name. The North's negotiations with the U.S. have been at a stalemate since last February, when a summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump collapsed over disagreements about exchanging sanctions relief for nuclear disarmament.