South Korea said Ukraine had become a `testing ground for North Korean missiles`, Russia responded

(Dan Tri) – At the United Nations, representatives of the US, South Korea and Russia criticized each other regarding Washington’s previous suspicion that Moscow may have used North Korean missiles in Ukraine.

Fragment of a missile that Ukrainian authorities believe was produced by North Korea and accuse Russia of using in the attack on Kharkov (Photo: Reuters).

Reuters reported that on January 10, the United States and its allies continued to accuse Russia of firing missiles purchased from North Korea into Ukraine.

Specifically, South Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Hwang Joon-kook said that North Korea may be gaining valuable technical and military information about weapons produced by this country when Russia is allowed to

Mr. Hwang suspects that North Korea sees Ukraine as a `testing ground for missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads when exporting weapons to Russia`.

On the other hand, US Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood and representatives of other US allies accused Russia of violating UN resolutions.

Previously, the US and 7 countries: Britain, France, Malta, Slovenia, South Korea, Japan, and Ukraine accused Russia of taking advantage of its position as a permanent member with veto power of the Security Council regarding the question of purchasing and using goods.

Russia and North Korea have repeatedly denied that they have made any arms deals, but last year they pledged to strengthen military cooperation.

Russian Ambassador Nebenzya accused Western countries of convening a Security Council session as an act of `anti-Russian propaganda`.

`Today, Western members of the Security Council repeated information that the Russian military is using missiles from North Korea in a special military operation in Ukraine,` Mr. Nebenzya said, citing

`So the US seems to be spreading false information without even bothering to check first,` Mr. Nebenzya accused.

Last weekend, Ukrainian Air Force Spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said the force could not confirm information that Russia may have used ballistic missiles purchased from North Korea.

`So far, we have no evidence that such missiles (suspected to be produced by North Korea) were used,` he said.

In addition, Mr. Ihnat said, among the weapons that North Korea possesses, there are many weapons from the Soviet era, as well as technology that the Soviet Union shared with Pyongyang.

`Even the weapons may be identical. So we can hardly expect any new information. The Iskander missile (from Russia and North Korea) may differ in some aspects, but not too much.`

On January 6, the Kharkiv Provincial Prosecutor’s Office (Ukraine) released evidence supporting allegations that Russia used North Korean missiles.

Kharkov Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Dmytro Chubenko said that based on the debris, it can be seen that this missile is visually and technically different from Russian models.

`That’s why we lean toward the hypothesis that this could be a missile provided by North Korea,` he said, declining to provide the exact identification code of the missile.