SEOUL, South Korea -- The U.S. strike that killed Iran’s top military commander may have had an indirect casualty: a diplomatic solution to denuclearizing North Korea. The U.S. strike that killed Iran’s top military commander may have had an indirect casualty: a diplomatic solution to denuclearizing North Korea. Without such public servants, they’re impossible. In comments published New Year’s Day, Kim said there were no longer grounds for the North to be “unilaterally bound” to its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and ICBM tests, which Trump has repeatedly boasted as a major foreign policy accomplishment. The U.S. airstrike that took out Soleimani came after Iranian proxies fired rockets onto an Iraqi base, killing an American contractor, and those proxies then helped generate a mob that attacked the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Pyongyang simply can’t be trusted with nukes, and here’s why we need to act. President Donald Trump said on Monday that Iran and North Korea have "tremendous potential" he hoped to help them achieve should they reach deals … 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 be the engine North Korea used in its successful 2017 tests of its largest ICBM. The Biden administration has begun cautious exploratory talks with Iran and other signatories on reviving the 2015 agreement that limited Tehran’s nuclear work. He writes a regular column on OZY called “Global Eye: Foreign Affairs Through an Intelligence Lens,” and teaches at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Washington needs a plan for leveraging success with both Tehran and Pyongyang. Iran and North Korea are updating their aging fleets and building new and more advanced submarines in order to counter their adversaries in open waters. The White House faces tough challenges on the international stage this year. North Korea’s initial reaction to the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani has been cautious. Last summer, Iran conducted another missile launch similar to a North Korean Musudan, the most advanced missile Pyongyang has successful … Shin expects Biden to eventually pursue a deal with North Korea that resembles the agreement with Iran that Trump pulled out of in 2018. Pyongyang is much further along than Iran on both nuclear weapons and missiles. President Trump is facing dual nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea, and is reacting strongly to one but saying little about the other. But when the administration turns to North Korea later, it will have to include among its goals measures to guard against Pyongyang diluting or undoing whatever progress it may have made with Iran. But then in 2018, Kim initiated diplomatic talks with Washington and suspended nuclear and long-range missile tests. 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. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The U.S. strike that killed Iran’s top military commander may have had an indirect casualty: a diplomatic solution to denuclearizing North Korea. 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. He seemed to leave the door open to diplomacy, saying North Korea’s efforts to bolster its deterrent will be “properly coordinated” depending on future U.S. attitudes. Iran and North Korea have shared military know-how in the past. 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 … Find the latest North Korean news stories, photos, and videos on NBCNews.com. Trump Bet He Could Isolate Iran and Charm North Korea. North Korea will learn from Iran's experiences. The Korean Central News Agency report didn't publish any direct criticism by Pyongyang toward Washington, instead simply saying that China and Russia had denounced the United States over last week's airstrike at the airport in Baghdad. The U.S. strike that killed Iran’s top military commander may have had an indirect casualty: a diplomatic solution to denuclearizing North Korea. Kim and Trump exchanged insults and threats of war during a highly provocative run in North Korean weapons tests in 2017. The opening came after months of concerns that the Trump administration could consider preventive military action against the North. The US president’s detour from the road toward peace is backfiring. 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. 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. Washington and Tehran are playing a game of chicken, and diplomatic opportunities to blink or save face are running thin. But it is fair to say that some level of nuclear collaboration has been underway for more than a decade. From Iran to North Korea, Biden has a world of challenges to confront after first 100 days "Never underestimate the value of language and behavior in diplomacy and … 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. Iranian navy … 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 … It’s clear Pyongyang has been closely watching the developments between Washington and Tehran since the Trump administration in May 2018 abandoned a nuclear agreement Iran reached with world powers in 2015. The bottom line: The Biden team is right to give first priority to Iran, because it can still be deterred from the nuclear path that North Korea has already taken. 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 also appears close to achieving a workable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) based on tests it conducted in 2017. Read breaking headlines from North Korea covering Kim Jong-un, global relations, and more. The North has often pointed to the demises of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi while justifying its nuclear development, saying they would still be alive and in power had they successfully obtained nuclear weapons and didn't surrender them to the U.S. Solemani’s name will soon be mentioned with them too, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University. There will be a price to pay for negotiating with Pyongyang. The unnamed warship, designed to … 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. Monitors believe Pyongyang is using money stolen in cyber-hacks to fund the programme and might be getting help from Iran. North Korea and Iran signed a technological agreement in September 2012. Starting in the 1980s, Iran began acquiring missiles and designs from North Korea; Iran’s Shahab-3 medium-range missile, with a range of 1,200 miles, is essentially a version of North Korea’s No Dong weapon. John McLaughlin is the former deputy director of the CIA. American diplomats must now turn their sights to diplomacy to rein in a nuclearized Pyongyang. 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. 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. THEORETICALLY, it is possible that North Korea has secretly pushed Iran's abilities forward in being able to deliver a nuclear warhead on one of its wide range of ballistic missiles. 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. 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’s extensive use of Twitter to issue diplomatic threats leaves one country the most vulnerable: the U. North Korea found success in … A U.N. panel of experts, moreover, issued a report last month noting that such missile cooperation was continuing. “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. 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. 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. Such missiles would pose a threat to its neighbors, and perhaps even the United States. Iran also enjoys friendly ties to North Korea, another U.S.-sanctioned state with which South Korea has struggled to improve relations amid an … Iran and North Korea enjoy surprisingly close relations when it come to arms and weapons. North Korea, Iran, and many other hot spots are hard problems for the most expert and dedicated public servants to solve. However, Albright showed satellite images of nuclear facilities in North Korea and pointed out that the country is actively working on miniaturizing nuclear weaponry for missile use. Iran imports a lot of DPRK tech— long range artillery, tanks, the list goes on. Iran has built a new warship that might have North Korean DNA, like the ship above. The country’s leader is volatile and his arsenal is stronger than ever. There are no comparable talks currently planned with North Korea, but the Biden administration continues to weigh the options. FILE - … Iran and North Korea cooperated on long-range missile development projects last year, according to a confidential United Nations report that may … 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. "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. South Korea claims that North Korean experts have worked at Natanz, one of Iran’s premier nuclear hubs, and the IAEA has reports that the North transferred to Iran mathematical formulas and codes for nuclear warhead design. 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, … 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? 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. On the nuclear side, the U.S. Army says the North has 20 to 60 nuclear warheads and the ability to make about six per year. This has included work on a three stage rocket to put a satellite in orbit. South Korea’s optimism for the latest diplomatic efforts with Pyongyang are less baffling through a historical lens. Cooperative relations between the two countries go back decades and continue now to contribute to Iran’s missile progress in particular. As Congress gears up to debate the Iran nukes deal, former CIA chief John McLaughlin looks at the risks. Can a powder keg of international crises be avoided in the year ahead?. Data reveals how Beijing has drastically cut exports of key materials to Pyongyang. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File). 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. 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. N Korea further developed nuclear weapons programme in 2020: UN. Kim Jong Un may have different ideas. News analysis . The North has recently pointed to that lack of progress and hinted it may resume tests of nuclear bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles. As for Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad certainly sounds like a threat. Its largest missile, the Hwasong-15, reportedly reached an altitude of 2,780 miles; scientists estimate that if this lofted shot was flattened out in a normal trajectory, it could reach most parts of the United States. 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