Ukraine’s Zelensky urges China to put pressure on North Korea over troops in Russia

North Korea should not lose people in European battles, Zelensky said. ‘This can be influenced ... by Korea’s neighbours, especially China’

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, Ukraine on Friday. Photo: Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / AFP

Published: 6:11am, 28 Dec 2024

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on China to exert influence on North Korea in response to the deployment of North Korean soldiers alongside Russian troops in the Ukraine war.

“The Korean nation should not lose its people in the battles in Europe. And this can be influenced, particularly by Korea’s neighbours, especially China,” Zelensky said in his evening video address.

“If China is sincere in its statements that the war should not escalate, it must exert appropriate pressure on Pyongyang,” he added. China is the closest ally of the isolated communist country.

Moscow is mainly using the North Korean troops in its attempts to regain the Russian area of Kursk, which is partly occupied by Ukrainian troops, Zelensky said.

“We can see that the Russian military and the North Korean enforcers have no interest in the survival of these Koreans at all,” Zelensky continued.

01:27

At least 100 North Korean soldiers killed in Ukraine war, says Seoul lawmaker

Everything is being done to avoid the Ukrainian military capturing the North Korean soldiers, he said, claiming that the North Korean troops would rather kill each other than be taken prisoner.