 "North Korea is becoming 'better prepared for war' by helping Russia in Ukraine, warns US")
As the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war continues to escalate, the United States on Wednesday warned that North Korea is benefitting from its troops fighting alongside Russia in the conflict. A senior US official said that by helping Russia, Pyongyang is gaining experience and is slowly becoming “more capable of waging war against its neighbours”.
Dorothy Camille Shea, the deputy US ambassador to the UN, raised the alarm while addressing the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Shea pointed out that there were more than 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia last month who were actively fighting against Ukraine.
“North Korea is significantly benefiting from receiving Russian military equipment, technology and experience, rendering it more capable of waging war against its neighbours”, Shea told the 15-member council, Reuters reported.
The remarks from the US official came when the UNSC met over what Pyongyang said was a test of a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile on Monday. “In turn, the DPRK will likely be eager to leverage these improvements to promote weapons sales and military training contracts globally,” she added.
North Korea hits back
Meanwhile, North Korea’s Ambassador to the UN, Kim Song, defended the testing conducted on Monday. At the same meeting, Kim said that the missile testing was part of a plan to enhance the country’s defence capabilities. He went on to accuse the United States of double standards.
“When the civilian death toll exceeded 45,000 in Gaza, United States embellished Israel’s nefarious mass killing atrocity as the right to self-defence … Meanwhile, it takes issue with the legitimate exercise of the right to self-defence of the DPRK,” Kim told the Security Council. Russia’s Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia on the other hand, repeated Moscow’s longstanding accusation that the US, South Korea and Japan provoke North Korea with military exercises.
He also rejected the US’s allegations that Russia intends to share satellite and space technology with Pyongyang, calling it “wholly unsubstantiated”. “Such statements are the latest example of baseless conjecture which is geared towards smearing bilateral cooperation between the Russian Federation and the friendly nation of the DPRK,” said Nebenzia, who also congratulated North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on his birthday on Wednesday.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsRussia forged closer diplomatic and military ties with North Korea even since the commencement of the war in Ukraine in February 2022. During the meeting, South Korea’s UN Ambassador Joonkook Hwang, told the council that North Korea’s soldiers were “essentially slaves to Kim Jong-un, brainwashed to sacrifice their lives on faraway battlefields to raise money for his regime and secure advanced military technology from Russia.”
It is pertinent to note that Pyongyang has been under immense UN sanctions since 2006 and is barred from conducting and developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests. However, Russia has veto power on the 15-member body, so any further council action is unlikely.
With inputs from Reuters.
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