The two states are part of what is called the "Axis of Evil", countries presented by the George W. Bush administration as wishing to obtain weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorism, along with Iran.

They were initially marked by a cordial understanding before they deteriorated sharply and were formally broken in 1980 due to the Iran–Iraq War, North Korea preferred to support its Iranian ally by providing it in particular with T-54/T-55 tanks, Anti-aircraft warfare batteries, Koksan self-propelled guns and Scud missiles.

Iraq would in fact have paid 10 million dollars to acquire North Korean Rodong-1 medium-range ballistic missiles according to the Central Intelligence Agency.

[4] In addition, in 2001, an American report affirms that Iraq and North Korean engineers would have jointly built a missile factory in Sudan.

North Korea also reportedly provided Scud missiles to Iraq, two dozen while the Iraqi ballistic program was largely neutralized during Operation Desert Storm during the Gulf War in 1991.