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| 2024-09-12 01:09:08
US-EU-NK threats
Senior U.S., EU officials decry N. Korea's continued arms transfers to Russia for use in Ukraine
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (Yonhap) -- Senior officials from the United States and the European Union "strongly" condemned North Korea's continued transfers of weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine during their talks this week, both sides said on Wednesday.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary General Stefano Sannino held bilateral talks on China and the Indo-Pacific on Monday and Tuesday, as Campbell is on a trip to Europe this week.
"They also strongly condemned the DPRK's continued arms transfers to Russia and Russia's use of DPRK ballistic missiles in Ukraine," the two sides said in a joint statement. DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
In a separate joint readout, the two sides warned against military support for Russia's war in Ukraine by the North, China and Iran.
"Both sides expressed strong concerns regarding the increasing military support to Russia's war of aggression provided by China, the DPRK, and Iran and underlined their determination to appropriately react to such actions," they said.
During a forum on Wednesday last week, Robert Koepcke, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Korea, Japan and Mongolia, said that Russia has secured more than 16,500 containers of munitions and related materiel from North Korea since September last year.
He also revealed that Russia has launched upward of 65 North Korean missiles into Ukraine.
Washington has been working with allies to disrupt and prevent arms transactions between the North and Russia amid growing concerns that their defense cooperation would undermine security on the Korean Peninsula and in Europe.
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