UNITED NATIONS, Jan 09 (Reuters) – On Wednesday, the United States issued a warning about North Korea’s growing military prowess, gained from its collaboration with Russia against Ukraine. This experience is reportedly making Pyongyang “more capable of waging war against its neighbors.”
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it has strengthened diplomatic and military ties with North Korea.
Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Dorothy Camille Shea, informed the United Nations Security Council that over 12,000 North Korean troops are in Russia, and last month, they began fighting Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region.
“The DPRK is significantly benefiting from receiving Russian military equipment, technology, and experience, rendering it more capable of waging war against its neighbors,” Shea told the council, which convened to discuss Pyongyang’s recent test of a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile.
Shea added that North Korea is likely to use these advancements to promote weapons sales and military training contracts globally.
North Korea’s U.N. Ambassador, Kim Song, defended Monday’s missile test, citing it as part of an effort to enhance the country’s defense capabilities. He accused the United States of double standards.
“When the civilian death toll exceeded 45,000 in Gaza, the United States justified Israel’s actions as the right to self-defense … Meanwhile, it criticizes the DPRK for exercising its legitimate right to self-defense,” Kim told the Security Council.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, reiterated accusations that the U.S., South Korea, and Japan provoke North Korea with military exercises. He dismissed as “wholly unsubstantiated” the U.S. allegation that Russia plans to share satellite and space technology with Pyongyang.
“Such statements are the latest example of baseless conjecture aimed at smearing bilateral cooperation between the Russian Federation and the DPRK,” said Nebenzia, who also congratulated North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on his birthday.
South Korea’s U.N. Ambassador, Joonkook Hwang, told the council that North Korean soldiers are “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.”
North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006, with measures steadily strengthened to halt Pyongyang’s development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. However, Russia’s veto power in the 15-member council means any further action is unlikely.
