Iran says squeezed NKorea in line with UN sanctions

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

Iran has put aside its recent ties to Pyongyang by "completely complying" with sanctions aimed at denuclearizing North Korea, Tehran's ambassador to South Korea said in an interview being aired by local media Friday.

Seoul-based envoy Hassan Taherian insisted that Iran's pursuit of peaceful nuclear energy set a very different backdrop for his own country's multilateral nuclear deal last year.

North Korea has continued to describe itself as a "responsible nuclear weapons state" even after the imposition of strengthened United Nations punitive measures following its claimed hydrogen bomb test in January.

Despite American concerns about past arms cooperation between Tehran and Pyongyang, Taherian maintained in the interview with Yonhap News TV that Iran is making the necessary "restriction" on North Korea in line with March's UN resolution.

"We're preparing the report of our activity and our efforts for the implementation of that resolution and later on we are going to submit that report to the Security Council," the envoy explained.

Pyongyang's most important ally China also handed in its sanctions report to the UN last month, but North Korea appears to be still hoping for Beijing's support going forward.

The North's leader Kim Jong-un spoke of developing Pyongyang's "friendship" with China in comments carried by state-run media Friday.

Beijing has both publicly called for a denuclearized Korean Peninsula while continuing to work on its relationship with North Korea -- as evidenced by last month's warm welcome offered to senior Pyongyang official Ri Su-yong.

Meanwhile, the two Koreas appear to be vying for Cuba's attention.

Seoul played down Friday the significance of the previous day's meeting in Pyongyang between Kim Jong-un and a visiting Cuban delegation.

A foreign ministry official was cited by Yonhap as claiming "this has nothing to do with the move underway to improve ties between South Korea and Cuba. It's just a separate matter."

North Korea opened diplomatic relations with Havana in 1960.