'Perfectly legitimate': North Korea defends Russian annexation of Ukrainian regions

SEOUL: North Korea voiced support Tuesday for Russia's annexation of areas of Ukraine that its troops occupy, and accused the US and its allies of acting like a gangster by leading a drive at the UN against Moscow's behavior.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow had annexed four areas of Ukraine which held Kremlin-organized referendums on land seized by Russia's military.

The United States and other Western countries have called those referendums shams carried out at gunpoint and vowed never to recognize the annexation.

But North Korean Foreign Minister Jo Chol Su defended those referendums on joining Russia as perfectly legitimate and "held in keeping with the UN Charter laying down the principles of the equality of peoples," the state-run KCNA news agency said. North Korea is an ally of Russia.

"An overwhelming majority of the voters supported the integration with Russia," Jo said in a statement, KCNA reported.

Russia on Friday vetoed a US-led bid at the UN Security Council to condemn its annexations. It got no support for the veto, with China and India abstaining.

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Jo said the United States was interfering in the internal affairs of independent countries and "abusing" the UN Security Council.

"The days are going never to return when the US can use the UNSC as its shield and means of aggression for maintaining its supremacy," the minister said.

"If the UNSC is going to violate the independent rights and fundamental interests of a sovereign state with the illogical and gangster-like double standards running counter to the aim and principle of the UN Charter, it will be held totally responsible for the consequences to be entailed by it," Jo said.