North Korea on Thursday denounced the United States and its allies for “reckless provocation” over their criticism of Pyongyang’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, including its military personnel deployment.
A foreign ministry representative, in a statement published by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), accused the 10 nations and the European Union (EU) of “distorting and slandering” Pyongyang’s “normal cooperative” relationship with Moscow, news agency AFP reported.
The North Korean foreign ministry responded firmly, with its spokesperson expressing “serious concern and protest, denouncing and rejecting in the strongest terms the reckless provocation of the US and its vassal forces”.
North Korea further criticised the “madness” of the reaction from “hostile forces,” claiming that enhanced cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow was successfully “deterring the US and the West’s ill-intended extension of influence”.
The statement released by Washington, received endorsement from the foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, along with the European Union’s high representative.
“We urge the DPRK to cease immediately all assistance for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, including by withdrawing its troops”, the statement said.
North Korea has deployed thousands of troops to support Russia’s war effort, including in the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian forces had earlier reclaimed territory.
The KCNA statement indicated that North Korea, “will firmly safeguard its legitimate right as a sovereign state, put no restrictions on exercising it and continue to make crucial efforts to preserve regional and global peace and security”
The allied nations and the European Union expressed serious concerns on Monday regarding North Korea’s increasing participation in the Ukrainian conflict alongside Russia, stating “dangerous expansion of the conflict, with serious consequences for European and Indo-Pacific security”.
While it did not explicitly acknowledge the deployment of its troops alongside Russian forces, North Korea stated that the war in Ukraine “has been prolonged” due to what it described as the “adventuristic military policy and policy of exclusive alliance” of Washington and its allies.
The military collaboration between North Korea and Russia has intensified since Russia began its Ukraine operation in February 2022. A major defense agreement between Pyongyang and Moscow, signed in June, took effect earlier this month.
Earlier on Tuesday, a senior US military official reported that North Korean forces had suffered “several hundred casualties in the Kursk region, ranging from “light wounds up to being KIA (killed in action)”.
