Dialog best way to solve Korean dispute: Iran

President Hassan Rouhani says disagreements on the Korean Peninsula can best be addressed at the negotiating table.

According to Press TV, President Rouhani made the remark during a Sunday meeting with Kim Yong-nam, who is the president of North Korea’s Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the Asian country’s unicameral legislature.

Rouhani hoped that negotiations would resume between the two Koreas and that peace and security would prevail in the entire Asia, particularly in its east.

President Rouhani told Kim in their Sunday meeting that all world nations had to be treated with respect and that any meddling in the internal affairs of countries was wrong.

Kim, who had traveled to Iran to attend Rouhani’s inauguration for a second term, congratulated the Iranian president for his reelection and said North Korea sought to expand relations with Iran in all fields, including economic, scientific, and technological areas.

Other world representatives meet President Rouhani

Diplomatic traffic was especially heavy at the presidential office on Sunday. A day after being sworn into office on Saturday, President Rouhani held separate meetings with some of the visiting dignitaries from the over 100 countries who had traveled to Iran to participate in his inauguration.

Apart from Kim, the North Korean official, other senior officials who met with Rouhani on Sunday were representatives from Spain, Lebanon, Belarus, Armenia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Moldova, Cuba, China, and the African states of Ghana, Swaziland, Lesotho, and Tanzania.

‘Iran deal facilitated better economic ties’

In his meeting with Spain’s Senate Speaker Pío García-Escudero Márquez, Rouhani referred to a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and a group of six other countries and said the accord eliminated obstacles in the way of economic relations between Iran and world countries.

He expressed satisfaction with the stand of European countries vis-à-vis attempts by the US to impede the smooth implementation of the deal.

He said Iran and Spain, as two friendly countries, had to receive the most benefits from the deal in the interests of their peoples.

García-Escudero said for his part that Spain supported Rouhani’s policies and would continue to cooperate with Iran.

‘Independent countries should stand their ground’

The president also met with Cuban Vice President Ulises Rosales del Toro.

He told del Toro that while certain states attempted to pressure freedom-seeking countries with sanctions and embargoes, it was essential that those countries persevered with their struggle for independence.

Del Toro said Cuba stood in solidarity with Iran and was grateful for the Islamic Republic’s help during decades of US-imposed embargoes on the Caribbean nation.

‘Iran can’t be isolated’

Moldova’s President Igor Dodon was another dignitary to meet with President Rouhani on Sunday.

The two presidents described bilateral ties between Iran and Moldova as good but stressed that relations could be enhanced.

Dodon said the participation of officials from more than 100 world countries in Rouhani’s inauguration displayed the failure of attempts to isolate Iran.

“For sure, enemies cannot isolate the Iranian nation, [a nation] with thousands of years of history, and Iran will shine in the world after moving past difficulties,” the Moldovan president said.

SS