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Kns / AFP - Getty Images
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a military base in the southern part of the country, in a recently released, undated photo from the country's official news service.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is planning to travel to Tehran next week, in his first overseas visit since taking over after his father's death in December, South Korea’s Yonhap and Arirang news services reported on Wednesday.
Iran’s spokesman for the Non-Aligned Movement Summit confirmed that Kim would attend a meeting of the 120-member Non-Aligned Movement scheduled for Aug. 26-31, according to Seoul-based Arirang.
North Korea watchers have keenly tracked the movements of Kim Jong Un, about whom virtually nothing was known when he was installed in the top posts of the authoritarian regime in Pyongyang.
In recent months, by adopting a different style than his late father Kim Jong Il, he has sparked a flurry of speculation that he might reform the country's rigid economic and social structure.
In July, Kim started appearing in public with an attractive woman who was later announced to be his wife Ri Sol Ju. Kim's recent appearances at an amusement park and with school children have made the young leader — thought to be 28 or 29 years old — seem more approachable than his father.
Last week, Kim's uncle Jang Song Taek met with top leaders in Beijing, fueling predictions that Pyongyang would put in place economic reforms like those launched in China three decades earlier.
But by making his first foreign visit to Iran — a country nearly as estranged from the rest of the world as his own — Kim gives no sign of a foreign policy thaw.
The Non-Aligned Movement was set up at the height of the Cold War by nations that did not want to side with NATO or the Warsaw Pact Nations. Hosting the summit, held about every three years, rotates among the 120 member nations, including .
About 40 world leaders have confirmed they will attend the summit in Iran, according to the English-language Tehran Times, while another 60 were expected to send lower level officials.
The Obama Administration has said Iran doesn’t deserve to host the summit given its failure to comply with international demands to open up about its nuclear program and has urged U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon not to attend. He has asked nations that are attending to pressure Tehran to come clean, the Associated Press reported Monday.
North Korea also has a nuclear program, the details of which are the topic of much analysis and speculation in the West.
U.S. efforts to engage Pyongyang ended abruptly when Kim Jong Un announced a planned missile launch shortly after agreeing to a deal freezing nuclear development in exchange for food from the United States. The launch failed, but discussions remain on hold. Analysis of recent satellite imagery by the Institute for Science and International Security suggest that the country’s construction of nuclear facilities is accelerating.
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Leave a Comment:
Its a trade off. All the OIL North Korea wants for Nuclear weapons and technology.
OneOfTheSane:
I spent 13 months in Korea, Camp Liberty Bell, 1970 to be exact. If you were indeed there and patroled the DMZ as you claim to have then you were probably having the time of your life with all the women there, not to mention some good dope. There was no combat there whatsoever during the time I spent there as well as you. All in all, Korea was, and still is, a waste of taxpayers money.
I just cannot help but wonder who is going to check Kim's bags to make sure he isn't moving contraband to Iran. Maybe a few nuclear triggers that work so the dumbazzz Iranians can stop blowing up sheds that are under satilite surveillance. We know the N. Korean triggers work. Maybe a couple of schematics of missiles that will reach Israel. I know the UN is not going through Mr. or Mrs. Kim's belongings and the Iranian's are not going to question anything brought into their country. Just a thought.
If you remember, Kim Jong Un's older brother managed to sneak out of North Korea to visit Disney World, for which he got passed over for the leadership of his country -- and is now living a happy life somewhere else. North Korea is overdue for a regime change, but this time it needs to be for the better.
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These guys are smart.
They know very well that obama/the U.S. will do nothing to restrain them for at least the next 3 1/2 months.
Making hay while the sun shines is what this is called.
They continue to make monkeys out of us.
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Ahmadinejad is gonna press him to ship out some weapons grade urnaium and move his ballistic nuke program along a little faster that's for sure. With no military experience or leadrship skills this "kid" will hand over enough uranium to wipe Israel off the map in a few weeks probably in exchange for nothing more than a few amusement parks Kim Un and his people seemed to be so facinated with. I mean it isn't like Iran has any valuable resources to trade with N Korea other than oil and alot of beach sand..
NO more food for North Korea. Not one cent of US taxpayer money in any form or for any reason.
Wow... hope Israel reads this story. No better time than then for that attack on those Persian fruitcakes than when you have a North Korean nutbar there too.
I'm sure they've been breaking the codes for quite some time.
Something tells me that Iran will have nuclear weapons sooner then anyone thought thanks to N.K..
Seems NKs Lil Kim is going 'window shopping' in Tehran. Nothing like keeping his buddies close.
Now would be a good time to get one of those high altitude Stinger Missiles into the hands of our Middle Easterner Allies.
You know the best way to keep Dear Leader II out of the picture?
Make fun of him.
His reign like his fathers is a cult of personality. A cult that if attack the leaders image, style, etc. he will break.
who's his barber, Stevie Wonder?!?
Perfect time to fly over and say "Oops! We didn't mean to drop that bunker buster!"
NOWs Our Chance! Kill Two Turds with One DRONE!
I have checked the list of current members of the Non-Aligned Movement and was truly impressed.
Of cause the hosts are the main attraction, but some of the guest are just as colorful:
There is the full collection of Al Qaeda supporters, all the diamond-gang-runners from Africa, some cartel bosses from South America, the remainder of the Communist party (which includes not only the wannabe-Great-Successor, but also Castro Jr.) and (just for fun) Mr. Potatohead from Belarus, who might be running late because he is too busy with the Teddy-Bear War.
If they plan on drawing a group portrait on that summit, the comic book companies will be fighting for the right to put it on a cover.
It is totally wrong that US and her western stooges impose sanction on Iran.Iran is not a threat to the peace.
US policy towards Iran is dictated by AIPAC working for the best interest of the zionist rogue state.
US government middle east policey has lost its creditability and will be a total lost if Romney becomes the next president as he tacitly supports and gives the greenlight for zionist regime to launch the pre-emptive strike.