North Korea blames US hegemonic policy for the ongoing Ukraine Crisis

Asia-Pacific, Europe, News March 1, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

North Korea has finally presented its stance on the ongoing Ukrainian crisis. According to the statement released by the North Korean Foreign Ministry, the United States’ hegemonic policy and Western countries’ disregard towards Russia’s legitimate security demands is the root cause behind the situation.

The statement came from a top diplomat through the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), “The crisis in Ukraine stems from the hegemonic policy by the United States and the West, which are acting willfully and arbitrarily towards other countries”.

The North Korean diplomat further highlighted the U.S. and West’s role in the deteriorating situation in Ukraine and said that the West has been “systematically undermining the security system in Europe with their increasingly manifest attempts to deploy offensive weapons there and expand NATO to the east.”

The North Korean Foreign Ministry also recalled the Western country’s influence in military operations of Afghanistan, Libya, and Iraq that led to the loss of countless civilian life.

North Korea’s stance on the matter came only days after its continuation of testing ballistic missiles. On February 27, Pyongyang tested its eighth of the year and so far, the most powerful ballistic missile of 2022.

In recent months, North Korea has conducted a series of weapon tests including its newly developed hypersonic missile with nuclear capabilities to show its military strength. Pyongyang also blames the U.S. for the ongoing situation in the Korean Peninsula and clearly states that unless the United States abandons its “hostile policy” towards North Korea, they will not return to the talks.

*^{Damaged military equipment at Ukrainian military facility outside Mariupol, Ukraine. (Image Credit: Sergei Grits/AP)}*

The analysts are widely speculating that North Korea would take advantage of the U.S. and West’s distraction over Russia’s invasion to carry out more of such tests.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on Funerary 24, has now entered into its sixth day with Russian forces slowly progressing towards the Ukrainian capital. The ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine officials began on the Belarusian border city of Gomel. The Russian and Ukrainian delegation met to find a solution for the ongoing crisis, however, not much progress was made in the first round. The two delegations returned back to their capitals to get further instructions on resuming the talks.

According to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, Russia continued bombings on Ukrainian cities while talks were underway, while dozens have been killed and hundreds wounded in Russian shelling on Kharkiv.