Russia has used ballistic missiles from North Korea against Ukraine 9 times – US
Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations Robert Wood accused Russia of using ballistic missiles purchased from North Korea against Ukraine. The American diplomat made the statement on the night of Wednesday, February 7, during a meeting of the UN Security Council.
“To date, Russia has launched ballistic missiles provided by the DPRK at least nine times into Ukraine,” Wood said, as quoted by the website of the US diplomatic mission to the UN, where the transcript of the American diplomat’s speech has been published.
Washington accuses Moscow of violating UN Security Council resolutions on the DPRK.
At the same time, Robert Wood accused Russia of violating the UN Security Council resolutions adopted earlier with its own participation, which impose a complete embargo on arms trade with Pyongyang, and called for holding Russia and the DPRK accountable for this.
“Russia and the DPRK must be held accountable for their actions that undermine long-standing commitments under UN Security Council resolutions,” the diplomat emphasized. “These illicit arms transfers and potential technology transfers from Russia to the DPRK undermine regional stability and the global non-proliferation regime (of ballistic missile weapons – Ed.), as well as the credibility of the Security Council,” Wood explained during his speech at the Security Council meeting.
“Even as we sit here, Russia continues to flout international law, doubling down on its violations of the UN arms embargo on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Robert Wood said.
Both Moscow and Pyongyang deny the US accusations, Reuters writes.
Moscow hopes that this year will be a “breakthrough” in relations with the DPRK.
Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to the DPRK Alexander Matsegora did not rule out that this year could see a significant strengthening of bilateral relations between Moscow and Pyongyang. He made this assumption in a in an interview with the Russian state news agency TASS published on February 7.
“In my opinion, the level of mutual understanding that exists in our relations with the DPRK now can rightly be called unprecedented. (…) I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I think that this year will be a breakthrough year in Russian-Korean relations in many ways,” Matsegora suggested.
The DPRK is an ally of Russia in its war against Ukraine
As a reminder, after the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, North Korea and Russia have become much closer. In the summer of 2023, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Pyongyang, and in the fall, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Pyongyang. In September 2023, DPRK leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Russia and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. On January 14, the DPRK Foreign Minister arrived in Moscow. Putin’s visit to Pyongyang is being prepared.
The rapprochement is felt not only at the level of visits, meetings and statements. Almost immediately after Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia, artillery ammunition and rockets for multiple launch rocket systems with North Korean markings began to appear on the frontline.
In November 2023, Western media reported, citing sources, that Russia had received a batch of ballistic missiles from the DPRK, and earlier this year the White House said that the Russians had used North Korean ballistic missiles against Ukraine for the first time.
Later, a North Korean hieroglyph and a number of other signs indicating the origin of these missiles were found on the missile fragment.
