North Korea's foreign ministry issued a formal statement condemning what it described as "illegal aggression" by Israel and the United States, state media Korean Central News Agency reported on Sunday. The ministry said the actions amounted to violations of national sovereignty and rejected them as unacceptable under any circumstances.
In the statement, Pyongyang characterized the U.S. military operation as "within the range of expectations," arguing that such an outcome flowed from what the statement called the "hegemonic and gangster-like" nature of the United States. The statement labeled the combined actions of the United States and Israel a "war of aggression" and said they could not be tolerated.
North Korea also called on regional countries and other parties with shared interests to assume responsibility for restoring peace and stability in the Middle East. The statement did not specify measures or identify which countries should lead such efforts; it presented the call as a general appeal to those with a stake in regional order.
Separately, Israel's military reported on Sunday that it had carried out a broad wave of strikes in the heart of Tehran following an air force operation that killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Those reported strikes in Tehran, the statement said, have raised fears of widespread instability across the Middle East.
The North Korean pronouncement, as conveyed by the state news agency, framed the events as symptomatic of coercive foreign policies and presented a diplomatic appeal for others in the region to take action aimed at reestablishing stability. The statement juxtaposed condemnation of the military actions with a call for collective responsibility for peace, without outlining concrete steps or a timeline for such involvement.
Contextual summary
State media published the foreign ministry's statement on Sunday, criticizing both Israeli strikes against Iran and a U.S. military operation. Pyongyang described the U.S. operation as predictable and attributable to what it called the United States' hegemonic behavior. The statement urged regional actors and interested parties to work to restore peace and stability after reported strikes in Tehran raised wider concerns about instability in the Middle East.