The U.S. Ministry of Defense’s Intelligence Service reported that Russia has used North Korean ballistic missiles to strike Ukraine.
This conclusion was drawn after comparing missile debris found in Kharkiv on January 2 with images from North Korean state media, noting similarities in specific missile components.
U.N. experts confirmed that the debris originated from a North Korean Hwasong-11 missile, indicating Russia’s violation of the ongoing arms embargo.
It’s not North Korea’s behavior that’s being highlighted, but Russia’s. Russia had agreed to sanctions on North Korea at the UNSC and is breaking those sanctions. It’s not a good look to be on the UNSC and impose sanctions and then break them yourself.
North Korea can do whatever. They aren’t obliged to sanction themselves.
My point is just that, in relative terms, “I’m gonna annex my neighbor, time for glorious Russian Empire 2.0” versus “I’m gonna trade for weapons from some sanctioned country to help me do so” seem almost ludicrously out of proportion. I know that there’s political sense to bringing it up and all, but…