The US Allegations Of North Korea Give Russia A War With Ukraine

Illustration of the Russian military on the border with Ukraine. (Source: Ministry of Defense Russia/Dmitry Shutov)

JAKARTA - A surprising statement was made by US White House officials on Friday, January 20, local time. They accused North Korea (North Korea) of continuing to provide ammunition for Russia.

North Korea is said to continue to support Moscow fighting Ukraine for no reason. The US White House called North Korea's actions a gross violation of UN Security Council (DK) resolutions for Pyongyang.

The strategic communication coordinator for the US National Security Council (NSC) John Kirby said the US had shared intelligence information with the UN's DK Expert Panel for North Korea sanctions on sending North Korean ammunition to Russia.

NSC officials recently said North Korea had delivered ammunition to Russia's private military company, the Wagner Group, for use in Ukraine.

"We clearly condemn North Korea's actions and urge it to stop deliveries to Wagner as soon as possible," Kirby said at a daily press conference at the White House.

"As we previously stated, the shipment of weapons from North Korea was a violation of the UN DK resolution. So today (we) will provide information about the violation to the expert panel of the Security Council Sanctions Committee for the DPRK," he added, as quoted from Antara, Saturday, January 21.

The DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which is the official name of North Korea.

In a rare measure, NSC also shared images of Russian train carriage satellites traveling between Russia and North Korea on November 18 and 19, 2022.

The trip, Kirby said, aims to deliver North Korea's first weapons to Russian companies.

"Currently, although we think the amount of material sent to Wagner does not change the dynamics of the battlefield in Ukraine, we expect Wagner to continue receiving North Korean weapons equipment," Kirby said.

NSC officials say the US currently has no plans to impose additional sanctions on North Korea. However, this is still an option.

"We certainly will not rule out additional sanctions if they appear in accordance with discussions at the United Nations," Kirby told the press.

Kirby added that North Korea also continued to evade sanctions, with the help of Russia and China.

"Not every country that should obey the sanctions regime really does it. So they can still trade with countries like Russia and China. And, obviously, that's a different problem, but they can avoid sanctions to continue to channel money into their economy," Kirby said.

"But let's keep this from perspective. This is not a country with an evolving economy. It's not a country that is rich in any way or feasible and flexible in the global economy," he added.