North Korea on Thursday criticized what it called “reckless provocation” by the United States and its allies to criticize Pyongyang’s support for Russia’s war, including the deployment of troops to Ukraine.
In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said the 10 countries and the European Union (EU) were “distorting and defaming” Pyongyang’s “normal cooperative” relations with Moscow.
Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to reinforce Russia’s war effort, including in the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian forces captured the area earlier this year.
On Monday, those countries and the European Union said North Korea’s increased involvement in the war in Ukraine in support of Russia is “a dangerous escalation of the conflict, which will have serious consequences for European and Indo-Pacific security”.
The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States and the High Representative of the European Union signed the statement issued by Washington.
“We urge the DPRK to immediately end all assistance, including withdrawing its troops, to Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine,” the statement said.
But Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry hit back and a spokesperson expressed “grave concern and protest, strongly condemning and rejecting the reckless provocations by the US and its vassal powers”.
North Korea said the “madness” of the response by “hostile forces” shows that increased cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow is effectively “preventing the ill-intentioned expansion of US and West influence”.
It did not specifically mention the deployment of its forces alongside Russian forces, only saying that the war in Ukraine has been “prolonged” due to the “bold military policy and policy of special alliances” of Washington and its allies.
The statement carried by KCNA said North Korea “will firmly defend its legitimate authority as a sovereign state, impose no restrictions on its exercise, and make significant efforts to maintain regional and global peace and security.” Will continue.”
North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A historic defense agreement signed in June between Pyongyang and Moscow came into force earlier this month.
A senior US military official said on Tuesday that North Korea had suffered “several hundred casualties in the Kursk area, ranging from “light wounds to KIA (killed in action)”.
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