Ukraine war: North Korea blames USA – and tests ballistic missile

Created: 02/27/2022, 1:49 p.m

By: Stefan Krieger

North Korea accuses the US: Washington's "self-importance and arbitrariness" led to the war.

Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un continues to test rockets.

Seoul - North Korea has officially commented on the escalation of the Ukraine crisis for the first time - and blamed the USA for the conflict.

"The root cause of the Ukraine crisis lies in US autonomy and arbitrariness," reads a post published on the Pyongyang State Department's website on Saturday.

Washington has sought "military supremacy in defiance of Russia's legitimate demands for its security."

The text is attributed to a researcher at the Society for International Political Studies named Ri Ji Song.

He accuses the USA* of applying double standards: the US government interferes in the internal affairs of other countries in the name of “peace and stability”, but it “condemns without good reason self-defense measures that other countries use to ensure their security.” seize their own national security".

North Korea on the war in Ukraine: the US is to blame for everything

Park Wang-gon, a professor of North Korean Studies at Seoul's Ewha Women University, said the post was a "reluctant" official response from North Korea.

"The bottom line is that it's all the fault of the United States."

Along with China*, Russia* is one of the few states that are friendly to North Korea*.

Moscow regularly speaks out against increasing international pressure on the leadership in Pyongyang.

Most recently, Russia called for the lifting of international sanctions on humanitarian grounds.

North Korea resumes missile testing

Meanwhile, North Korea has resumed missile testing after a four-week hiatus.

According to the neighboring countries South Korea and Japan, the self-declared nuclear power fired a suspected ballistic missile towards the open sea in the east on Sunday morning (February 27, 2022).

UN resolutions prohibit the country from testing such missiles, which, depending on the design, can also carry a nuclear warhead.

Experts did not rule out that it could be a medium-range nuclear-capable missile.

A newscast showing footage of a North Korean missile test is on at a train station in Seoul.

© Jung Yeon-Je/afp

South Korea had feared North Korea could resume missile testing after the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing this month.

The country suspended the tests probably out of consideration for its traditional ally China.

Ukraine war: North Korea increases pressure on US

The latest test took place in the midst of the Ukraine war.* Experts have long speculated that North Korea could also try to exploit the conflict in Ukraine* to put more pressure on the United States to come up with concrete proposals for new negotiations.

The US government's talks with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons program have been at a standstill for three years.

According to the South Korean armed forces, the missile was fired near the capital Pyongyang during the test on Sunday.

She flew about 300 kilometers at an altitude of up to 620 kilometers.

The expert Ankit Panda spoke on Twitter of an "interesting trajectory".

He is not sure whether "this corresponds to previous tests".

It may have been a medium-range missile (MRBM).

In terms of radius of action, it would be below medium-range missiles with a longer range of 2,400 to 5,500 kilometers.

Ballistic missiles are usually surface-to-surface missiles.

North Korea tests medium-range missile

Japan's Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said the missile fell into the sea outside of Japan's "exclusive economic zone".

Tokyo protested the test through the embassy in Beijing.

Tokyo and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations.

South Korea's National Security Council expressed deep regret and "serious concern" over the recent missile test after an emergency meeting.

North Korea had already conducted seven missile tests in January, including testing a medium-range missile that could also hit the US Pacific island of Guam.

The island, where the US has a military base, is about 3,400 kilometers from North Korea.

The communist leadership accuses Washington of hostile policies.

After testing the medium-range missile at the end of January, South Korean President Moon Jae-in warned that North Korea was getting closer to breaking its April 2018 self-imposed test ban on nuclear tests and ICBM tests.

North Korea's ruler Kim Jong Un* indicated in January that such attempts could be resumed.

(skr/afp/dpa)