On December 19, North Korean media published a statement from a Foreign Ministry spokesman praising the country’s military alliance with Russia as proving very effective in deterring the US and its “vassal forces”.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shakes hands with Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov in Pyongyang on November 29
According to Reuters, the statement did not mention the US and Ukraine’s accusations that North Korean soldiers died while fighting with Russia against Ukraine in Kursk province (Russia).
Instead, the spokesman condemned the US, nine other countries and the European Union (EU) for issuing a joint statement that “distorted and slandered the nature of normal cooperative relations” between North Korea and Russia.
Pyongyang accused Washington and its allies of prolonging the war in Ukraine and destabilizing the security situation in Europe and Asia-Pacific.
The US and Ukraine said North Korean soldiers suffered many casualties in Kursk
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Pyongyang in June and signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, including provisions for mutual defense between the two countries.
US and South Korean officials believe that more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers have been deployed to Russia and that Pyongyang also transferred more than 10,000 containers of artillery shells, anti-tank rockets, howitzers and rocket systems to Moscow. Neither North Korea nor Russia confirmed this information.
The US warns Russia about North Korea
The US has not commented on North Korea’s new statement. However, US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield on December 18 warned about the possibility of Russia accepting North Korea as a nuclear state, according to Reuters.
Weapons were displayed at an exhibition in Pyongyang (North Korea) in November
“Alarmingly, we assess that Russia may be about to accept North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, reversing Moscow’s decades-long commitment to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. We believe that Moscow will become more reluctant not only to criticize Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons development, but also more obstructive to pass sanctions or resolutions condemning North Korea’s destabilizing behavior.” , Ms. Thomas-Greenfield said at the United Nations Security Council meeting Quoc.
In response, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia defended cooperation with North Korea as complying with international law, not opposing third countries, and not posing a threat to the region and the world.
In September, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia considered the denuclearization of North Korea a closed issue and that Moscow understood Pyongyang’s rationale for relying on nuclear weapons as a defense foundation.
