Ukraine cut ties with North Korea over recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk

Asia-Pacific, Europe, News July 16, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

The conflict between Ukraine and North Korea has intensified after Pyongyang recently said that Ukraine has no right to talk about sovereignty while aiding the U.S. against North Korea.

Ukraine severed its ties with North Korea after Pyongyang recognized Ukraine’s separatist regions as independent states. Kyiv’s decision to cut ties with North Korea came on July 13, shortly after Pyongyang announced the recognition of independence for two of Ukraine’s self-proclaimed republic states.

North Korea became the third country in the world, after Russia and Belarus, to recognize the independence of Ukraine’s breakaway regions. North Korea’s state-run news agency, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), announced that country’s Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui sent letters to “her counterparts” in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) recognizing the independence and asking to deepen the ties.

KCNA reported that Choe “expressed the will to develop state-to-state relations with those countries in the idea of independence, peace, and friendship.”

Russia has backed and funded the independence movement of DPR and LPR since 2014. Russia has been accused of being involved in supporting the separatist insurgent groups in the region. Russia also became the first country to recognize the independence of the two regions, on the eve of its invasion of Ukraine.

North Korea previously expressed support for Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. North Korea also stressed deepening its ties with Russia amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war while blaming the crisis on the “hegemonic policy” of the U.S. and other western nations.

Ukraine immediately severed its relations with Pyongyang over its recognition of the two breakaway regions. In a statement released by Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry’s website, it was stated that “We consider this decision as an attempt by Pyongyang to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

^{North Korea’s Ambassador to Russia Sin Hong Chol (L) and Olga Makeyeva, ambassador of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) to Russia, pose for a photograph during a ceremony to present a document recognizing the Donetsk People’s Republic at a meeting at the North Korean Embassy. (Image Credit: Press Office of the DPR Representative Office/TASS)}

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry defended the country’s decision, saying Ukraine does not respect North Korea’s sovereignty because it aided U.S.-led actions including sanctions over the North’s weapons program. In response to Ukraine’s severance of ties, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry released a detailed statement saying “Ukraine has no right to raise issue or dispute our legitimate exercise of sovereignty after committing an act that severely lacks fairness and justice between nations by actively joining the U.S. unjust and illegal hostile policy in the past.”

The statement further said that “We will continue to strengthen and develop friendship and cooperation with all countries that respect our sovereignty and treat us favorably based on the principles of sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs and mutual respect.”