British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said North Korea would pay a “heavy price” for supporting Russia, a day after the US accused Moscow of using Pyongyang-supplied missiles in the war against Ukraine.
“The world has turned its back on Russia and forced Putin into the humiliation of going cap in hand to North Korea to keep his illegal invasion going,” Shapps said Friday said. “In doing so, Russia has violated several UN Security Council resolutions and endangered the security of another region of the world. This has to stop now.”
The White House said Thursday that it had intelligence that North Korea “recently provided Russia with ballistic missile launchers and multiple ballistic missile launchers” and that Russian forces fired “at least one of these North Korean missiles into Ukraine” on Dec. 30 would have.
The British Foreign Office criticized Moscow, saying the use of North Korean weapons was “symptomatic of its isolation on the world stage and a sign of its desperation” and a “violation of several UN Security Council resolutions – which Russia supported as a permanent member.” .”
London also called on North Korea to “stop its arms sales to Russia.”
Relations between Moscow and Pyongyang have warmed in recent months as Putin seeks allies on the international stage. Last year, POLITICO reported that North Korea had shipped large quantities of ammunition to Russia and delivered a million rounds of artillery.