Delegates Alarmed over Reported Russian-Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Military Cooperation, as Top UN Official Says Escalating War in Ukraine Causing More Suffering
The Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine continues to inflict suffering on civilians, as well as inflame regional and global tensions, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as speakers voiced alarm over the reported military cooperation between Moscow and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), with troops from Pyongyang expected to participate in ground operations.
“The dangerous, escalatory trajectory of the war in Ukraine will only lead to further suffering, mounting destruction and deeper geopolitical divisions that we simply cannot afford,” warned Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations. He said that since his last briefing a week ago, Moscow’s relentless attacks have continued to cause further civilian casualties and additional damage to critical infrastructure across Ukraine. Such attacks are prohibited under international law and must cease immediately.
To date, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has verified that nearly 12,000 civilians, including hundreds of children, have been killed since February 2024, he continued, adding that millions remain displaced, and in need of life-saving humanitarian assistance. Millions more in Ukraine remain under the threat of further displacement due to widespread Russian attacks, particularly in the country’s eastern and southern regions. As well, he renewed his concern over massive damage to the Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, in particular energy infrastructure, which risks exacerbating the already dire humanitarian conditions and access to essential services as winter approaches.
“We have followed with serious concern the recent reports of military personnel of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea being deployed to the Russian Federation, including their possible deployment to the conflict zone,” he said, noting that the United Nations is not in a position to verify or confirm claims or reports made, with its knowledge based on publicly available information. He cited media reports and statements by officials, noting that estimates on the number of troops arriving from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the Russian Federation vary widely.
Such reports follow the signing on 19 June, in Pyongyang, of “the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the Russian Federation and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” that reportedly outlines cooperation on security and defence-related issues, he said, adding that the treaty was ratified by the lower house of the Russian Parliament, the State Duma, on 24 October. Noting that previous reports had touched on Pyongyang’s transfer of military supplies, including ballistic missiles and artillery shells, to the Russian Federation, for possible use in its military operations in Ukraine, he stressed: “We urge all relevant actors to refrain from any steps that may lead to spillover and intensification of the war in Ukraine.”
He went on to reiterate his call on all countries to abide by relevant Council resolutions, including those concerning the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, underscoring that the need to redouble efforts towards a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in Ukraine, in line with the Charter of the United Nations, international law, and resolutions of the General Assembly.
Alarm over reports Moscow training Democratic People’s Republic of Korea military personnel
Ukraine’s representative, taking the floor, said his delegation had requested the meeting “to address another step taken by Moscow to further escalate its war against Ukraine”. The situation in his country is moving in “a menacing direction”, he said, reporting that military personnel consisting of 12,000 servicemen from Pyongyang are being trained at five training grounds in the Eastern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces. “This contingent includes at least 500 officers of the DPRK army, with three generals from the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army,” he said, adding that Moscow is planning to create five formations comprising 3,000 servicemen each. “One such unit is equivalent to that of a motorized rifle regiment,” he stressed.
“To conceal their presence, the servicemen from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are expected to be integrated into the Russian units, manned by representatives of ethnic minorities from the Asian part of Russia,” he continued, with such troops undergoing training by “experienced Russian military instructors from the Airborne Forces and Special Operations units”. “Sending these troops to fight Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine is a flagrant violation of international law, including the UN Charter,” he stressed, citing relevant restrictions imposed by the Council on Pyongyang. Recalling his condemnation of Moscow for dismantling the monitoring mechanism of the sanctions regime on Pyongyang, he said, adding: “Now, the sanctions regime itself is under threat.”
The representative of the United States said that recent reports reflected the increasing desperation of the Kremlin, stressing: “Russia knows the DPRK is a pariah with one of the world’s worst human rights records.” Voicing concern that the troops will be used in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in Kursk Oblast, he warned that this would mark a further and serious escalation of the conflict.
Recalling that Moscow had previously joined other Council members in imposing arms embargoes on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Iran to deter them from having unlawful weapons of mass destruction programmes, he questioned what the Russian Federation must be giving those States in return. “At a minimum” it is blocking the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea sanctions committee from operating, he said, declaring: “Even with the addition of North Korean troops, Russian forces will not prevail against Ukraine.”
The speaker for the Republic of Korea concurred, calling “the recent turn of events … surprising even to long-time North Korea watchers.” With over 600,000 Russian troops killed or wounded since the war’s start, Moscow needs more soldiers to feed its war machine, and a similar fate awaits the North Korean troops. He called on the Russian Federation to stop the “unprovoked war”, adding that his Government, in close cooperation with the international community, “will respond resolutely to unlawful Russia-DPRK military cooperation, and will take corresponding measures, commensurate to ensuing developments”.
Russian Federation points to egregious double standards and flawed logic
The Russian Federation’s delegate, countering such concerns, assailed his colleagues for their “egregious double standards” and for “pushing open disinformation”, following previous claims that his country dismantled washing machines for microchips because it was running short of missiles, violated babies with spoons, and caught people on the street because no one wanted to go fighting. He nonetheless pushed back against the “flawed logic” of Washington, D.C., and its allies that they have the right to mobilize the military and intelligence of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to help Kyiv, while his country has no right to do so.
“The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is our neighbour and close partner, and our bilateral interactions are transparent and our sovereign right,” he stressed, adding that the two States’ 19 June “Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” is a consequence of their friendship and geopolitical transformations. “It is not a secret, it is published,” he said, adding: “There is no reason to present our cooperation as a threat to anyone.” Statements made by Council members about soldiers from Pyongyang on the front lines are “bare-faced lies intended to distract from problems truly threatening international peace and security”, he emphasized, adding that the “lamentations of the United States and its satellites” were a performance with one goal: post-facto justifications of the decision by NATO to shore up Ukraine’s “outdated dictator regime”.
Council members concerned over escalatory trajectory of conflict
Throughout the meeting, several Council members, including Ecuador, Guyana as well as Switzerland, Council President for October, speaking in her national capacity, voiced concern over the escalating trajectory of the conflict.
France’s speaker said that deployment of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea troops in the Russian Federation would further escalate the war — a hostile act with direct consequences for the security of Europeans, international peace and security — and would only increase the suffering of the Ukrainian people. Condemning the use of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea-made ballistic missiles to strike Ukraine, he noted that in return for this military support, Moscow has provided impunity and assistance to Pyongyang’s illegal weapons-of-mass destruction programmes. Further, last March, the Russian Federation alone vetoed the renewal of the 1718 Committee’s Group of Experts, which had been renewed by consensus for 15 years, depriving all Member States of an essential source of information on the implementation of Council resolutions.
Similarly, the United Kingdom’s delegate said the cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow is a direct violation of multiple Council resolutions, stressing: “Russia voted for these resolutions. Now it violates them.” The Russian Federation has now suffered over 600,000 casualties, she said, adding: “Instead of sending other countries’ sons to die for the imperialistic whims of one man, they should end the war now.”
Dark turn of events and serious threats with no winner
Japan’s representative, noting that despite its repeated condemnation of Moscow’s procurement and use of ballistic missiles from Pyongyang against Ukraine, military cooperation between both countries has only accelerated. He therefore called on the Council to “act to stop this”. Slovenia’s delegate echoed such points, characterizing the ongoing cooperation as a “dark turn of events”, while his counterpart from Mozambique called it a dangerous inflection point.
Malta’s delegate said the events are “a serious threat” to the security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific, while Algeria’s speaker pointed out that, with both parties strengthening their military capabilities, this conflict — like any other — would have no winner.
Broader destabilizing impact on region and world
Sierra Leone’s representative, meanwhile, said that while these intelligence reports are currently allegations, “they serve as a stark reminder of the broader destabilizing impact” the conflict could have on regional and international peace.
Stavros Lambrinidis, Head of the Delegation of the European Union, speaking in its capacity as observer, warned that participation of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea troops in Moscow’s war against Ukraine would constitute an additional serious breach of international law, and represent a unilateral hostile act by the Pyongyang. The bloc is ready to explore necessary actions as a response, in coordination with international partners. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s ongoing support for the war illustrates how closely linked European security is to that of the Indo-Pacific, he stated — while with its disturbing shift of position on the denuclearization of the Pyongyang, Moscow relinquishes its key obligation from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Baltic countries urge foreign troop withdrawal from Ukraine
Similarly, Latvia’s delegate, also speaking for Estonia and Lithuania, condemned cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, calling on the latter to withdraw all troops and equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine, as well as stop blatantly abusing its Security Council permanent member status.
For his part, China’s delegate reiterated that his Government has always “stood on the side of peace and on the side of dialogue.” Underlining the need for a political solution, he recalled his delegation’s initiation of the “Friends for Peace” Group on the Ukraine Crisis in the hope of building more consensus for peace.
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea denounces hostile policies and sordid political motives against his country and Russian Federation
The representative of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea pushed back on the statements about his country, as well as denouncing today’s meeting, called by the United States and its allies “out of their hostile policies and sordid political motives” against his country and the Russian Federation. Instead, the Council should take issue with Ukraine’s “aggressive act of invading the Russian people’s sacred territory of Kursk, killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructures,” he said, adding that, since the outbreak of the situation in Ukraine, the United States and the West has supplied Kyiv with lethal weapons and “gave a green light to using those weapons to strike the Russian territory.”
He affirmed that his country and the Russian Federation are entitled to develop bilateral relations in all fields in full conformity with the recognized norms of international law. Further, if the Russian Federation’s sovereignty and security interests are threatened by the continued dangerous attempts of the United States and the West, “and if it is judged that we should respond to them with something, we will make a necessary decision,” he stated.
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