North Korea says United States is ‘root cause’ of Ukraine invasion
Categories: FOREIGN COUNTRIES
In its first comments since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, North Korea's foreign ministry posted a statement by a researcher calling the United States the "root cause" of the European crisis for pursuing unilateral sanctions and pressure while disregarding Russia's legitimate demands for its security."The root cause of the Ukrainian crisis also lies in the high-handedness and arbitrariness of the US," said the post uploaded on the North's foreign ministry website. "Putin’s War shapes almost all geopolitics right now, and should factor somewhere in Kim’s calculus — but even 'taking advantage of distraction' seems to presume too much, since (North Korea) was already testing aggressively before the war," John Delury, a professor at South Korea's Yonsei University, said on Twitter.As Russia pushes ahead with its offensive, the West is working to equip the outnumbered Ukrainian forces with weapons and ammunition while punishing Russia with far-reaching sanctions intended to further isolate Moscow. President Vladimir Putin hasn’t disclosed his ultimate plans, but Western officials believe he is determined to overthrow Ukraine’s government and replace it with a regime of his own, redrawing the map of Europe and reviving Moscow’s Cold War-era influence.Ukraine’s health minister reported Saturday that 198 people, including three children, had been killed and more than 1,000 others wounded during Europe’s largest land war since World War II.