United Nations delegates spoke out against Russia's use of North Korean ballistic missiles in Ukraine at a Security Council meeting on Jan. 10, according to a UN press release.
Russian forces have launched multiple North Korean ballistic missiles at Ukraine since Dec. 30, according to U.S. officials. Following a series of massive Russian aerial attacks, including a Jan. 2 strike that involved ballistic missiles, the Security Council announced it would convene to address Pyongyang's supply of weapons to Moscow.
North Korea has made Ukraine “a test site of its nuclear-capable missiles,” South Korea's UN Envoy Hwang Joon-Kook said during the meeting.
“The introduction of North Korean missiles into the war in Ukraine has a significant implication on global nuclear non-proliferation,” he said.
Joon-Kook also said he agreed with the assessments of some experts that Russia fired KN-23 missiles into Ukraine, weapons that North Korea claims can deliver nuclear warheads. This represents an "existential threat" to South Korea, he told the Council.
Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood also condemned Russia's use of ballistic missiles in Ukraine and North Korea's arms trade with Russia.
"It is abhorrent that a permanent member of the Council is flagrantly violating resolutions to attack another UN Member State," Wood said.
"Such violations exacerbate the suffering of the Ukrainian people and undermine the global nonproliferation regime."
The U.S. and nearly 50 allies published a joint statement on Jan. 9 condemning North Korea's alleged transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia and calling for an immediate end to the supply of weapons.
U.S. officials reported that Russian forces launched at least one North Korean missile into Ukraine on Dec. 30. That missile landed in an open field in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. During a massive overnight attack on Jan. 2, Russia fired multiple North Korean ballistic missiles into Ukraine as part of a strike that left five people dead and 130 wounded.
At the Jan. 10 meeting, Russia's delegate denied reports that Russia used ballistic missiles provided by North Korea in Ukraine, and accused the U.S. of spreading disinformation.
Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine's permanent representative to the UN, said that Russia is able to inflict harm on Ukraine frome a safe distance “due to an ongoing supply of weapons and munitions from rogue States."
The Kyiv Independent news desk
