Foreign ministers from 10 nations, including those from the Group of Seven (G7) major democracies, on Friday condemned weapons transfers from North Korea to Russia, saying the arms were being used against Ukraine.
The G7 nations—which include the United States, France, Britain, Italy, Germany, Japan, and Canada—along with South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and the European Union, have collectively called upon both North Korea (officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, DPRK) and Russia to “cease unlawful arms transfers.”
Both Japan and South Korea have announced new sanctions aimed at individuals and entities thought to be involved in the transportation of North Korean weaponry to Russia. The European Union on Friday added six individuals and three companies to its North Korea sanctions list. Such sanctions “represent a coordinated effort to hold the DPRK and Russia to account and to impose costs on actors and entities involved in the unlawful transfer of arms from the DPRK to Russia for use in attacking Ukraine”, the ministers said Friday.
The G7 ministers underscored their united stance against these arms transfers, emphasizing the prolongation of suffering for the Ukrainian people due to such military aggressions. South Korea has accused North Korea of sending a vast quantity of munitions to Russia, a claim that was termed “absurd” by Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
However, a Pentagon report has cast a spotlight on Russia’s utilization of North Korean ballistic missiles in the Ukraine conflict, supported by an analysis of debris found in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region in January. There is also an expert consensus that North Korea’s recent missile testing activities could be connected to weapons intended for battlefields in Ukraine. Despite international sanctions banning North Korea from conducting ballistic missile tests, Russia exercised its veto power in the UN Security Council to effectively end UN monitoring of these violations, a move for which North Korea has expressed gratitude to Russia.
“By the use of its veto, Russia has sought to deprive all UN member states of the objective and independent information and guidance they need to implement binding security council resolutions,” the G7 said. It reiterated a call for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and associated programs in a “complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner.” Furthermore, it encouraged North Korea to engage in diplomacy as the “only path to an enduring peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
Relevant articles:
– G7 ‘gravely concerned’ by deepening Russia, North Korea ties: statement , Yahoo News UK, 06/01/2024
– G7 urges North Korea, Russia to ‘cease unlawful arms transfers’, The Times of India, 05/31/2024
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