Military interaction with N Korea doesn’t breach int’l law: Russia UN envoy

The representative of Russia to the UN told the UN Security Council that the country’s military interactions with North Korea do not violate international law. North Koreans were reported to have been “bareface lies” according to their representative.

“I want to make it clear that Russian interaction with DPRK in the military and other sectors is legal and does not violate international law. It’s not aimed against third countries”, Vasily Nebenzya said at a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday, using the acronym of the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The United States and South Korean defense chiefs demanded that North Korea withdraw its troops from Russia on the same day, according to Washington, where about 10,000 of them were being stationed for possible use against Ukrainian forces.

“I call upon them to withdraw their troops out of Russia”, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the Pentagon, speaking alongside his South Korean counterpart, Kim Yong-hyun, who urged the “immediate withdrawal” of Pyongyang’s forces.

Austin urged Moscow to avoid using these troops in combat, saying that the US would “continue to work with allies and partners” to stop Russia from using them.

A “small number” of North Korean troops have already been stationed in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops have been conducting a ground offensive since August, according to the Pentagon the day before.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin meets with South Korea’s Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun]Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters]

Speaking at the UNSC meeting, Russia’s Nebenzya said: “These statements about the North Korean soldiers in our front should not surprise no one, because they’re all barefaced lies and they are trying to distract”.

Why is it that the United States and allies are trying to impose on everyone the flawed logic that they have the right to mobilize the NATO’s military and intelligence, and that Russia and its allies have no right to do the same thing? “Even if everything that our Western colleagues are saying is true,” he continued.

Kim Song, the UNSC’s ambassador to North Korea, stated to the UNSC that “all countries have the right to develop bilateral relations.”

According to him, “the acts of the United States and its allies currently pose the greatest threat to international peace and security.”

Over the course of the Ukraine conflict, Russia and North Korea have strengthened their political and military ties. Pyongyang and Moscow are both under sanctions for their nuclear weapons programs, both of which are against Kyiv. Alarming voices are rumbling all over the world as North Korea’s decision to tighten its ties with Russia.

Key concerns

According to Austin, officials at the Pentagon are mulling whether to deploy more troops, which he claimed had the power to prolong or amplify the conflict in Ukraine. When questioned if it could “encourage others to take action,” he acknowledged that it might “encourage others to take action,” but he gave no details.

Kim of South Korea stated that while he does not necessarily think the deployment will cause war on the Korean Peninsula, it might increase security concerns between the two countries.

Sergiy Kyslytsya, the UNSC’s UN ambassador, claimed that Moscow had “taken another step” by its actions toward North Korea in order to “increase its war against Ukraine.”

“Building the interoperability of the Russian and DPRK armies constitutes a threat to Europe, the Korean peninsula, its neighbours and beyond”,&nbsp, he added.

What North Korea’s greatest concern is about what it will return for its troops. However, officials have not yet disclosed specifically what Pyongyang might have requested or what Moscow might have offered.

According to experts, North Korea likely wants to acquire military equipment in return for these forces, including anything from surveillance satellites to submarines, as well as security guarantees from Moscow.

North Korean troops are currently stationed 50 kilometers (31 miles) away from the Ukrainian border with Russia, according to a Ukrainian official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make the disclosures public.

Up to 12, 000 North Korean service members are stationed at five Russian Armed Forces training facilities, according to Kyslytsya, at the UNSC meeting. He added that at least seven aircraft carrying up to 2,100 soldiers flew from Russia’s border with Ukraine between October 23 and October 28.

Russia has also received weapons from North Korea, and earlier this month, the White House made public images showing North Korea delivering 1, 000 containers of military equipment there by rail.

kyiv — A resident stands in front of an apartment building damaged by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv]File: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters]

Fighting continues

Meanwhile, on the ground, Russia and Ukraine exchanged scores of drone strikes on Wednesday.

A Russian guided bomb struck the fourth floor of a high-rise apartment building in Kharkiv, causing casualties, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram.

Earlier, Ukraine’s air force said that Russia launched 62 drones and one missile overnight, adding that 33 of them were intercepted and 25 were jammed. The attack injured nine people in Kyiv, according to the city administration.

Authorities reported that at least four people were killed and about 30 others were hurt in earlier attacks by Russians on other regions of Ukraine.

At the same time, Russian forces have pressed their slow-moving offensive in eastern Ukraine. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the capture of the Kharkiv village village and the downing of 25 Ukrainian drones over several areas of the country’s west and southwest.