Blinken slams North Korea for supplying arms to Russia during visit to Seoul

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, greets Foreign Minister Park Jin in Washington on Feb. 3 [YONHAP]

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned North Korea for supplying arms to Russia during his visit to Seoul on Thursday.

Blinken and South Korea’s National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong “discussed the DPRK’s provocative actions in the Korean Peninsula and strongly condemned the provision of military equipment and munitions by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the Russian Federation for use in its war against Ukraine,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement, referring to the North by its official name.

In his two-day visit to the country, Blinken was also scheduled to meet with President Yoon Suk Yeol and Foreign Minister Park Jin.

“We’re deeply concerned about what Russia is providing Pyongyang in return for the weapons and munitions that it’s getting from Pyongyang,” Blinken told reporters in Tokyo a day earlier. “We’ll continue to push for the full implementation of all relevant UN Security Council resolutions and commitments to uphold the global nonproliferation order.”

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]