Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attend a state reception in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 19. Reuters-Yonhap
North Korea on Monday criticized the United States for its military support for Ukraine and supported Russia’s actions as a “legitimate act of self-defense,” underscoring the growing military ties between Moscow and Pyongyang.
“If the US rulers continue to recklessly send their war machine to Ukraine to wage a proxy war against Russia, it will inevitably provoke a stronger response from Russia,” Pak Jong Chon, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea, said in a statement to the Korean Central News Agency.
Pak added: “Russia has the right to self-defense and can launch a strategic counterattack to protect its security from the ever-increasing threat posed by hostile forces. Any response by Russia would be a legitimate act of self-defense.”
Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed his “full support” for Russia’s war in Ukraine at summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang and pledged to strengthen strategic cooperation with Moscow.
“We will always stand by the side of the Russian army and the Russian people and wage a just struggle to defend the sovereign rights, strategic stability and territorial integrity of their country,” Pak said.
Pak particularly criticized the recent expansion of the agreement with Ukraine, according to which the US can strike across the border into Russian territory wherever Russian forces carry out cross-border attacks on Ukraine – and not just in the Kharkiv region, as previously agreed.
“This time, the United States has gone so far as to allow Ukrainian neo-Nazis to attack any part of Russian territory at will,” Pak said. (Yonhap)
