The North Korean leader offered Pyongyang’s “full support” to Moscow in a message addressed to the Russian president, North Korean state media reported Monday.
Kim Jong-un sent a congratulatory message to Vladimir Putin on the occasion of the holiday season in Russia, one of Pyongyang’s few allies.
The statement, published by North Korea’s official news agency KCNA, does not specifically mention the invasion of Ukraine or Moscow’s involvement in an armed conflict, but praises Putin’s “good decision and leadership … of enemy forces”.
The North Korean people offer “full support and solidarity to the Russian people in their tireless struggle to defend the sacred cause of preserving the country’s sovereign rights, development and interests against the arbitrary and authoritarian practices of the imperialists.”
North Korea described the conflict as a “proxy war” by the United States to destroy Russia and condemned Western military aid to Kiev.
In January, Washington accused North Korea of supplying missiles and missiles to the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, which Pyongyang denied.
In March, Washington said it had evidence that Moscow was seeking weapons from Pyongyang for the Ukrainian offensive in exchange for food aid to North Korea, whose economy and agriculture are in ruins.
As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia has long vetoed new sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program and repeated missile launches.
Source: DN
