China stays away from Pyongyang-Moscow rapprochement

China said on Friday that the rapprochement between Pyongyang and Moscow did not concern it, after Washington warned that up to 8,000 North Korean troops were training in Russia and were ready to fight with Ukraine.

“North Korea and Russia are two independent states. How they develop their relations concerns them,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country has been engaged in a war since 2022 with Ukraine, has reached a military cooperation agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Worrying silence from China

According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, citing US intelligence, some 8,000 North Korean troops are currently in Russia in the Kursk border region, before being deployed to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced what he called his allies’ inaction against North Korean troops and said he was surprised by China’s “silence.” The spokesperson said Friday that Chinese authorities “do not know the specific situation of bilateral exchanges and cooperation between North Korea and Russia.”

“China’s position, which hopes that various parties will ease the situation and work towards a political solution to the Ukrainian crisis, has not changed,” Lin told a regular conference.

Meeting in Moscow

The heads of Russian and North Korean diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov and Choe Son Hui, began a meeting in Moscow on Friday, at a time when the West denounces the sending of North Korean soldiers near Ukraine, the ministry announced Russian Foreign Affairs.

After their meeting in a Moscow train station, they “will continue their discussion at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Russian diplomatic spokesperson Maria Zakharova announced on Telegram. The two countries concluded a “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty” which notably provides for “immediate military aid” in the event of armed aggression from third countries.

AFP

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