Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea broke off its silence about Russia’s invasion in Ukraine Monday. The North blamed “hegemonic” policy and “highhandedness” by the United States of America and West.

As Moscow faces U.S. economic sanctions, Ceasefire Talks between Russian and Ukrainian Officials began at the Belarusian Border on Monday. It had been four days since its invasion of Ukraine.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry declared, in its first statement about Russia’s attack on it, that the West is guilty of abuse of power.

The hegemonic U.S. policy and West’s abuse of power to oppress other nations is what caused the Ukraine crisis,” the North’s official KCNA News agency stated, citing an anonymous spokesperson for a foreign ministry.

It was just one day after North Korea had fired a missile to test its nuclear weapons after it was locked in denuclearisation talks.

Washington called for talks to reopen on Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programs. But North Korea rejected Washington’s overtures and demanded that the U.S. abandon its “hostile strategy” and “double standard”

Pyongyang also threatens to resume testing of its long-range missiles, and nuclear weapons.

The United States is vowing to place export restrictions to prevent Russia from accessing semiconductors, advanced technology vital for its weapons development, biotechnology and to block certain Russian banks from SWIFT’s international payments system.

North Korea said Washington and its allies were “ignoring Russia’s reasonable and legitimate demands” to guarantee legally-backed security assurances.

They have “systematically undermined the European security system by pursuing North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s growth towards the East and blatantly deploying weapons systems for attack,” KCNA reported.

The reality is that the U.S. will continue to pursue a unilateral, double-dealing strategy that puts a threat on a country’s safety and peace of mind.