Ukraine has become a “test site” for North Korean missiles and the rogue state’s nuclear ambitions, South Korea warned yesterday.
The US and its allies this week condemned what they described as Russia’s firing of North Korean rockets at Ukraine.
Seoul said Russia’s use of North Korean rockets gave Pyongyang “valuable technical and military insights” about its arms.
South Korean envoy Hwang Joon-kook said through exporting missiles to Russia, North Korea “uses Ukraine as the test site of its nuclear-capable missiles”.
He added that experts assessed them as KN-23s, which Pyongyang says are able to deliver nuclear warheads. One reportedly flew 460km, the distance from a North Korean launch site to the city of Pusan, which from the South’s view, “amounts to a simulated attack”.
Deputy US Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood, and other allies, said the use of the missiles breaches UN resolutions.
He described it as “abhorrent” that a permanent member of the UN Security Council is “violating” resolutions to attack another member state.
The US and seven other nations have accused Russia of exploiting its position as a veto-holding permanent member of the Council by acquiring and firing the missiles into Ukraine.
The fact that Russia holds a veto on the Council, alongside Britain, China, France and the US, effectively guarantees the body cannot punish Moscow.
