North Korea decries 'illegal' joint NATO declaration
July 13, 2024
North Korea has decried a declaration recently signed by NATO members which condemned Pyongyang's weapons exports to Russia, state media said on Saturday.
The secluded country which has grown its military relations with Russia over the last several years, called the document "illegal."
The North Korean state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the foreign ministry "most strongly denounces and rejects" the NATO declaration.
The agency, citing a ministry spokesperson, said the declaration "incites new Cold War and military confrontation on a global scale," and requires "a new force and mode of counteraction."
What did the NATO declaration say?
The joint declaration put forward by NATO members in Washington DC this week faulted North Korea for "fuelling Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine," by "providing direct military support" to Moscow.
The alliance's leaders also expressed "profound concern” over China's industrial support to Russia.
Both Pyongyang and Russia have repeatedly denied allegations that the former has supplied missiles and ammunition to the Kremlin forces to aid in its war in Ukraine. In June, however, North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement pledging military support to each other.
South Korea and the US also signed guidelines on an integrated system of deterrence for the peninsula against North Korea's nuclear and military threats, on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
Korean Peninsula ties at lowest point in decades
Relations between South and North Korea are at their lowest point in decades, as Seoul suspended a tension-reducing military deal and resumed live-fire drills on border islands and by the demilitarized zone, in response to the North sending trash-filled balloons its way.
The North has carried out several short and long range ballistic missile testings, including ones that can carry super-large warheads, in response to South Korea, the US and Japan carrying out joint drills in the region. Some experts point out that Russia has been using missiles similar to the ones North Korea is testing, raising further suspicion of growing military coordination between the two countries.
mk/wd (AFP, Reuters)