The Ukrainian leader bemoans the lack of concern from Kiev’s friends in a televised interview that was broadcast on a South Korean broadcaster.
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s Western partners have not done enough to address North Korean forces’ involvement in Russia’s fight against Kiev.
The remarks on Thursday followed calls by the defense chiefs of the United States and South Korea for Pyongyang to remove its troops from Russia, citing the deployment of North Korean soldiers dressed in Russian uniforms in anticipation of potential action against Ukrainian forces.
Moscow has not explicitly acknowledged or denied that North Korean forces are present. North Korea has recently defended the force deployment as being in accordance with international law, following its initial rejection.
According to the Ukrainian leader, Russian President Vladimir Putin is “testing the reaction of the West, of NATO states, and the reaction of South Korea,” during an interview with the South Korean television network KBS.
“And if there is nothing –– and I think that the reaction to this is nothing, it has been zero –– then the number of North Korean troops on our border will be increased,” he stated.
Seoul claims that North Korea rushed to send troops in large numbers after its leader Kim Jong-un signed a mutual defense agreement with Putin in June, and it has long accused Pyongyang of transferring weapons to aid Moscow in its conflict with Kiev.
“China’s silence surprises me. We believed that China was one of the guarantors of security in your region, but I’m not suggesting that it supports us,” Zelenskyy remarked, adding, “and there is this silence today.”
“I think, Japan, South Korea –– you are both strong countries –– should reach out to China and have China as an ally in terms of what North Korea is doing now,” he stated.
When the Ukrainian leader remarked, “North Korea is now dragging your whole region into a war,”
The remarks were made public by his office as high-level negotiations between the US and South Korea took place following North Korea’s test-fire of one of its newest and most potent missiles, indicating its threat to the US mainland just days before elections.
