Russia Faces Backlash After Trying To Justify Alliance With North Korea In Ukraine War

Russia has been accused of violating UN resolutions and the founding UN Charter with the deployment of troops from North Korea to help Moscow.

Vassily Nebenzia argued that Russia's military interaction with North Korea did not violate international law.

Source : X/@RussiaUN

During a United Nations Security Council meeting on Wednesday Russia’s envoy questioned why its allies such as North Korea could not help Moscow when Western countries claimed the right to help Kyiv. Russia’s representative, Vassily Nebenzia, faced harsh criticism for this statement, from the United States, Britain, South Korea, Ukraine and others. 

As per a Reuters report, they accused Russia of violating UN resolutions and the founding UN Charter with the deployment of troops from North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to help Moscow.

South Korea's UN Ambassador Joonkook Hwang, said, "Supporting an act of aggression, which completely violates the principles of the U.N. Charter, is illegal”. He added, that activities that include DPRK’s troops to Russia clearly violated “multiple U.N. Security Council Resolutions."

Earlier in the week, NATO said that North Korean military units had been deployed to Russia's Kursk region near the border with Ukraine. The Pentagon had estimated that around 10,000 North Korean troops had been deployed to provide support to Russia. 

Nebenzia argued that Russia's military interaction with North Korea did not violate international law. Russia has never denied the involvement of North Korean troops in the war, which it has been waging in Ukraine since February 2022.

He further said, that if all the things said about Western allies are true, then “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 Zelenskiy regime” but the Russian allies don’t have the right to do a similar thing. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s UN envoy Sergiy Kyslytsya, responded that none of the western countries that provide assistance to Ukraine is unde  Security Council sanctions. Kyslytsya said that assistance from “from the fully-sanctioned North Korea is a brazen violation of the U.N. Charter”. 

“Sending the DPRK troops to support Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is a flagrant violation of international law," he added, as per Reuters. 

According to Reuters, DPRK has been under UN Security Council sanctions since 2006, with these measures being steadily strengthened to halt Pyongyang's development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

However, North Korea has not acknowledged the deployment of troops to Russia but said any such move would be in compliance with international law.

North Korea's UN Ambassador Song Kim told the Security Council, that 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,” as per Reuters.

He said Pyongyang and Moscow have maintained close contact with each other on mutual security and development of the situation.

However, deputy U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un: "Should DPRK's troops enter Ukraine in support of Russia, they will surely return in body bags. So I would advise Chairman Kim to think twice about engaging in such reckless and dangerous behavior."

Meanwhile, Deputy US Ambassador Robert Wood warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, that should DPRK’s troops enter Ukraine in support of Russia, “they will surely return in body bags. So I would advise Chairman Kim to think twice about engaging in such reckless and dangerous behavior."