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North Korea slams UNSC meeting on Russia's strike on Ukraine

Published: 13 Jan. 2026, 19:38

Pyongyang citizens and soldiers pay respect to former North Korea leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il in front of their statues on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang on Jan. 1. [AP/YONHAP]

North Korea on Tuesday denounced a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on Russia's recent airstrike on Ukraine, defending Moscow's action as a just exercise of the right to self-defense.

Kim Song, North Korea's permanent representative to the UN, issued a statement condemning the UNSC meeting on Monday after Russia launched a barrage of missile attacks on Ukraine last week.

"It is just an extension of the customary practice of the Western cavilers who used to groundlessly slander the just exercise of the right to self-defense of a sovereign state," read the statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

The North's envoy denounced Ukraine's military action against Russia as a "terrorist act" as Moscow earlier warned of a response against Ukraine following Kyiv's drone attacks in early January.

"The terrorist act targeting the absolute sovereignty of a country can never be justified, and retaliation of justice can never be demonized by any assertion," Kim said.

North Korea has sent thousands of troops and weapons to support Russia's war with Ukraine amid deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.

Yonhap