N. Korea condemns Ukraine’s attack on Crimea with U.S.-supplied weapons

North Korea on Thursday condemned Ukraine's recent attack on Crimea using weapons provided by the United States, calling it an "inexcusable, hideous crime against humanity," in a series of statements supporting Russia. On Sunday, Ukraine launched a strike on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula using the U.S.-provided Army Tactical Missile System, resulting in the death of at least four people and injuring 153 others, including children. "I vehemently denounce the recent case as a direct military attack on Russian territory and an inexcusable, hideous crime against humanity," North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun-nam said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Russia has alleged that the U.S. provided Ukraine with intelligence support and targeting data for the strike. In contrast, the U.S. maintains that Ukraine independently decides which targets to strike. "The gravity of the issue is that, as claimed by Russian officials, the missiles fired by the Zelenskyy administration a t civilians were U.S.-made, and the input of their coordinates was carried out by U.S. military experts," Kang said. Labeling Washington as the "worst sponsor of terrorism," Kang added, "It has been fully proved that the weapons supplied by the U.S. to Ukraine have been used to massacre peaceful citizens of Russia." Since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang on June 27, North Korea has issued a series of statements supporting Russia's prolonged war with Ukraine, describing it as a "legitimate act of self-defense." "We will always stand with the Russian army and people in their just war for defending national sovereignty and security," Kang said. In a separate dispatch, the KCNA said that "perpetrators of crimes against humanity are bound to face severe punishment by history." "The recent atrocity, carried out with bombs banned by international law and long-range weapons supplied by the U.S., was an intentional 'contract murder' premeditated by the U. S. This clearly demonstrates the extremes of their anti-Russian hysteria," it said. Source: Yonhap News Agency