South Korean leader Park Geun Hye plans to visit Iran in early May, making her the first president of her country to do so since Seoul and Tehran established diplomatic relations in 1962, her office said Monday.
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Park also threatened North Korea with tougher sanctions and isolation over another potential provocation from the country.
Iran and North Korea have always been suspected of being close partners in weapons technologies.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Monday there is a good chance the next nuclear explosion will be conducted underground and that it will involve the testing of a nuclear warhead.
A recent surge in belligerent threats and nuclear and missile activity in the North may also be linked to leader Kim Jong Un’s preparations for a major ruling party meeting next month that analysts believe he will use to further solidify his autocratic rule.
“We can no longer afford to be pushed around by North Korea’s deceipt and intimidation”, Lim said.
From early March, Pyongyang raised tensions on the Korean peninsula by firing short-range and medium-range missiles and artillery shells in a show of force against annual US-South Korea war games, which North Korea considers as a dress rehearsal for northward invasion.
It claimed it had miniaturised a nuclear warhead to fit on a missile and successfully tested an engine designed for an inter-continental ballistic missile that could reach the mainland US.
However, China seems just as concerned about maintaining stability in the region as it does about pressuring the North to give up its nuclear weapons.
He warns a policy like Trump’s would only escalate North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. The nuclear-armed state has staged several short- and mid-range missile launches but has yet to test the Musudan, which has an estimated range of anywhere between 2500km and 4000km.
The UN Security Council on Friday issued a press statement condemning North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile as a violation of UNSC resolutions.
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The United Nations previously imposed sanctions on North Korea for three tests it carried out in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
