Rocket launch sheds new light on N.K.-Iran ties

Seoul (The Korea Herald/ANN) - North Korea's successful launch of a long-range rocket is sparking fresh speculation over the communist state's covert partnership with Iran, another rogue nuclear aspirant.

A string of news reports and leaked diplomatic cables have constantly suggested that the two pariah states cooperate on developing atomic weapons and ballistic missiles through personnel exchanges and technology sharing.

Despite Tehran's denial, U.S. Congress is pushing to highlight the decades-long ties in its upcoming resolution designed to censure the North for the Dec. 12 liftoff. The motion cites news reports to mention that Iranian scientists apparently specialized in missile development were dispatched to offer technical support to the North and were observing the launch at the site.

The resolution was proposed to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, its Republican chair, and 10 co-sponsors from both camps including Rep. Ed Royce, who will succeed her next month.

Japan's national broadcaster NHK reported Wednesday that Hamid Reza Taraghi, vice general secretary of Iran's Islamic Coalition Party, has said his delegation was informed of an upcoming rocket launch during talks on Oct. 20 in Pyongyang with Kim Yong-il, director of international affairs at the Workers' Party.

Shortly after the North's rocket launch, Gen. Masoud Jazaeri, a top Iranian military official, sent a congratulatory message to the Kim Jong-un regime, according to the semiofficial Fars News Agency.

"Experience has shown that independent countries, by self-confidence and perseverance, can quickly reach the height of self-sufficiency in science and technology. Hegemonic powers, such as the United States, are unable to stop the progress of such countries," he was quoted by saying.

Iran is believed to have first successfully test-fired its rocket in 2002. It claimed in 2004 it has secured the ability to mass produce its Shahab-3 long-range ballistic missile, whose prototype model is speculated to be the North's Nodong-1.

Such collaboration is "certainly" possible, said James Schoff, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former Asia-Pacific security advisor to U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

"They clearly have some common interests in trying to build up a deterrent so that they can keep outsiders from interfering in their business, which allows them to carry on policies that are unpopular with neighbors such as funding and supplying terrorist organizations on the part of Iran, and for North Korea seeking to undermine South Korea while oppressing its own people," he said.

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Rocket launch sheds new light on N.K.-Iran ties