"As legitimate military targets, they will end up as mere cannon fodder, while the wages they are supposed to receive from Russia will end up squarely in Kim Jong-un's pocket," said Ambassador Hwang Joon-kook at a UN Security Council meeting in New York on Wednesday.
Expressing concerns about the growing military ties between North Korea and Russia, Hwang pointed out that North Korea's troop deployment to Russia constitutes a "clear violations of multiple" UN sanctions.
"Russia's increasing military dependence on Iran and [North Korea] is endangering the world," he added.
In response, Russia's UN envoy claimed that Moscow does not violate internal law and questioned why its allies like North Korea should not assist Russia in its war in Ukraine, especially when Western countries have been supporting Ukraine.
"Even if everything that's being said about the cooperation between Russia and North Korea by our Western colleagues is true, why is it that the United States and allies are trying to impose on everyone the flawed logic that they have the right to help the Zelensky regime..... and Russian allies have no right to do a similar thing," said Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia.
Ukraine's UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya replied, "Receiving assistance from the fully-sanctioned North Korea is a brazen violation of the UN Charter."
However, North Korea reacted with a warning. "If Russia's sovereignty and security interests are exposed to and threatened by continued dangerous attempts of the United States and the West, and if it is judged that we should respond to them with something, we will make a necessary decision," North Korea's UN envoy Kim Song threatened.
Josep Borrell, vice president of the European Commission also condemned the troop deployment, calling it a "unilateral hostile act." He urged North Korea "must stop providing support to Russia's war efforts," stressing that continued military assistance to Russia in its aggression against Ukraine "will be met with an appropriate response."
Borrell is scheduled to visit Seoul next week to discuss response measures with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul.
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