Members of the UN Security Council held a heated debate on Wednesday over reports of North Korean troops sent to Russia.
The council convened an emergency meeting at the request of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said up to 12,000 North Koreans are being trained at five locations in Russia’s Eastern Military District.
He also said that between October 23 and 28, at least seven aircraft carrying up to 2,100 soldiers flew to Russia’s border with Ukraine. He added that in November, North Korean military personnel are expected to “begin directly participating in combat operations against Ukraine’s defense forces.”
Council members expressed concern over these developments.
Japan’s Ambassador Yamazaki Kazuyuki said, “North Korea becoming an accomplice to Russia’s unprovoked aggression will worsen the situation in Ukraine.”
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia countered that Russia’s interaction with North Korea on military and other matters is in line with international law, and that no one can forbid it.
North Korean Ambassador Kim Song did not refer directly to reports of troops in Ukraine. But he said, “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,” then his country will make “a necessary decision.”
US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood said, “these destabilizing activities are a major threat to peace and security, not only in Europe, but in the Indo-Pacific.”
He added that if North Korean troops enter Ukraine in support of Russia, “They will surely return in body bags.”
Wood said he would advise North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to “think twice about engaging in such reckless and dangerous behavior.”