Russia recently fired additional North Korean ballistic missiles into Ukraine following earlier such launches, a White House official said Tuesday, reiterating the arms transfers between Moscow and Pyongyang violate multiple U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.
John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, disclosed Russia’s additional missile strikes on the war-torn country on Saturday, while noting its earlier launches of North Korean missiles on Dec. 30 and Jan. 2.
“Since then, Russian forces again launched multiple North Korean ballistic missiles into Ukraine,” Kirby told a press briefing. “We are still assessing the impacts of these strikes, but we can confirm that at least one of them landed in Kharkiv.”
Last Thursday, Kirby announced that the North recently provided Russia with several dozen ballistic missiles, as well as ballistic missile launchers.
Kirby said that Washington will discuss the arms transfers between the North and Russia at the UNSC on Wed
nesday. The transfer of any weapons and related materials from the North is banned under UNSC resolutions that Russia itself voted for.
“Russia’s transfer of ballistic missiles from the DPRK directly violates multiple UNSC resolutions,” he said, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“Tomorrow, we will raise these arms deals at the UNSC alongside our allies and partners and demand that Russia be held accountable for yet again violating international obligations that it signed up to,” he added.
Meanwhile, top diplomats from nearly 50 countries, including South Korea, the United States and Japan, issued a joint statement condemning in the “strongest terms” the arms transfers between the North and Russia.
“The transfer of these weapons increases the suffering of the Ukrainian people, supports Russia’s war of aggression, and undermines the global non-proliferation regime,” the statement read.
“We are deeply concerned about the security implications that this c
ooperation has in Europe, on the Korean Peninsula, across the Indo-Pacific region, and around the world,” it added.
In October, the White House revealed that the North had delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia for use in Ukraine.
The transaction came amid persistent speculation that the Sept. 13 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Russian spaceport might have led to an arms deal.
Source: Yonhap News Agency