SEOUL, South Korea: North Korea voiced support for Iran’s new supreme leader while conducting a strategic cruise missile test, as Pyongyang accused the United States and Israel of destabilizing the region.
Pyongyang, a longstanding adversary of Washington, has previously condemned the US-Israeli attack on Iran as an “illegal act of aggression.”
Defying US President Donald Trump’s desire to influence who leads Iran, the Islamic Republic on Sunday named Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader, replacing his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on February 28.
“We respect the rights and choice of the Iranian people to elect their supreme leader,” a spokesperson from North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in comments carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The official accused the United States and Israel of “destroying the regional peace and security foundations and escalating instability worldwide.”
The spokesperson also said Washington and Tel Aviv were violating Iran’s political system and territorial integrity while attempting to overthrow its social order, actions that “deserve worldwide criticism and rejection.”
For decades, the United States has led international efforts to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, but negotiations, sanctions, and diplomatic pressure have yielded limited results.
In recent months, the Trump administration has sought to revive high-level talks with Pyongyang, with the possibility of a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year.
During a visit to Asia in October, Trump said he was “100 percent” open to meeting Kim, though the remark initially received no response from Pyongyang.
After months of silence, Kim recently suggested the two countries could “get along” if Washington accepted North Korea’s nuclear status.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s state media reported Wednesday that Kim supervised another test launch of strategic cruise missiles from the naval destroyer Choe Hyon.
The country conducted a similar test from the vessel last week, claiming it was working to arm its navy with nuclear weapons.
According to KCNA, Kim emphasized the need to strengthen a “powerful and reliable nuclear war deterrent.”
Images released by state media showed Kim monitoring the launch remotely alongside his teenage daughter Ju Ae, who is widely seen as his likely successor.
#BREAKING : North Korea has test-fired strategic cruise missiles from a destroyer, with the launch conducted on March 10 from the Choe Hyon warship, Kim Jong Un reportedly observed the drills via video link.#NorthKorea #KimJongUn #MissileTest #CruiseMissile #KCNA pic.twitter.com/csX2eazmDJ
— upuknews (@upuknews1) March 11, 2026
South Korea’s intelligence agency has indicated that Pyongyang may already be preparing to position Ju Ae as the future leader, with the young girl increasingly appearing alongside her father at official events.
The missile test came as the United States and South Korea began their annual “Freedom Shield” military exercises on Monday. Pyongyang warned the drills could bring “unimaginably terrible consequences.”
The Choe Hyon is one of two 5,000-ton destroyers launched by North Korea last year as Kim seeks to strengthen the country’s navy with short-range tactical missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Analysts say Pyongyang may be using the situation to justify expanding its military deterrence.
Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies, said North Korea appears to be “securing the legitimacy and justification for bolstering war deterrence.”
With the ongoing war in Iran, he added, Pyongyang is portraying joint US–South Korea military drills not as routine defensive exercises but as preparations for a possible preemptive conflict.
