Ten countries and the European Union called North Korea's growing involvement in Russia's war in Ukraine a "dangerous escalation" of the conflict, in a joint statement released by the United States on Monday.
Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to help Russian troops. Ukraine announced Monday that its fighters had killed or wounded at least 30 North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk region.
"North Korea's direct support for Russia's aggression against Ukraine marks a dangerous escalation of the conflict, with grave consequences for European and Indo-Pacific security," the statement said.
The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States and the high representative of the European bloc for foreign policy signed the statement.
They also said they were "deeply concerned about any political, military or economic support that Russia may provide to North Korea's illicit weapons development programs, including weapons of mass destruction."
North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since the start of Russian aggression in Ukraine in February 2022.
Experts say Kim Jong Un, the leader of nuclear-armed communist Korea, tends to seek and receive advanced technology from Moscow and gain combat experience for his troops.
The signatories of the statement said they "condemn in the strongest terms the growing military cooperation" including "the sending of North Korean troops to Russia for use on the battlefield against Ukraine."
They added that Pyongyang's export of ballistic missiles, artillery shells and other military materials to Russia, as well as Moscow's training of North Korean soldiers, "represent flagrant violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions."
"We call on North Korea to immediately cut off all aid to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, including the withdrawal of its troops," the statement said.
The United States and South Korea have accused the North of sending more than 10,000 troops. /VOA (A2 Televizion)
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