United Nations, Jan 8, 2025 – The United States has raised concerns that North Korea is benefiting from its troops fighting alongside Russia against Ukraine, gaining valuable experience that makes Pyongyang “more capable of waging war against its neighbors,” according to US Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Dorothy Shea.
Russia has strengthened its diplomatic and military ties with North Korea since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. More than 12,000 North Korean troops are currently in Russia, and in December, they began fighting against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region.
Shea told the United Nations Security Council that the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) is significantly benefiting from receiving Russian military equipment, technology, and experience, rendering it more capable of waging war against its neighbors. She also warned that North Korea might leverage these improvements to promote weapons sales and military training contracts globally.
North Korea’s UN Ambassador Kim Song justified the recent missile test as part of a plan to enhance the country’s defense capabilities and accused the US of double standards. Meanwhile, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia rejected US allegations of sharing satellite and space technology with Pyongyang as “wholly unsubstantiated”.
South Korea’s UN Ambassador Joonkook Hwang described North Korea’s soldiers as “essentially slaves to Kim Jong Un, brainwashed to sacrifice their lives on faraway battlefields to raise money for his regime and secure advanced military technology from Russia”.
North Korea has been under UN sanctions since 2006, aimed at halting Pyongyang’s development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. However, Russia’s veto power on the 15-member body makes further council action unlikely.