N Korea ‘respects’ Iran’s selection of Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader 

North Korea has announced its support for Iran’s appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s supreme leader and again denounced the “illegal” attack by the United States and Israel on Iran, state media reports.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Wednesday quoted a spokesperson from North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying that Pyongyang respected the choice of Iran to select Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader, the son of late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US-Israeli attack at the start of the war on 28 February.

“Regarding the recent official announcement that the Iranian Assembly of Experts has elected a new leader of the Islamic Revolution, we respect the right and choice of the Iranian people to elect their Supreme Leader,” KCNA quoted the ministry spokesperson as saying.

“We express grave concern and strongly condemn the aggression of the United States and Israel, which, by launching an unlawful military attack against Iran, are undermining the foundations of regional peace and security and increasing instability in the international landscape,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also condemned the attacks for undermining “the political system and territorial integrity of a country”, which is unacceptable and “must be condemned and rejected by the entire world”.

Following the launch of the US-Israel war on Iran 12 days ago, North Korea condemned what it branded “gangster-like conduct” in the Middle East.

KCNA also reported on Wednesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had overseen another test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from the country’s latest and largest naval destroyer, Choe Hyon.

Kim spoke during the event about the important strategic task of “maintaining and expanding a powerful and reliable nuclear war deterrent”, according to KCNA.

The launch of the missile from the Choe Hyon was the second missile test from the destroyer overseen by Kim, who last week lauded his country “arming the Navy with nuclear weapons”.

The US has for decades led efforts to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear programme, but has had little influence on Pyongyang, which has asserted that such weapons are required to prevent any threat of invasion by South Korea and its allies in Washington.

In recent months, the Trump administration indicated its willingness to revive high-level talks with North Korea, while Kim recently said that the two nations could “get along” if Washington accepted his country’s status as a nuclear power.