WAR OF WORDS

North Korea to Ukraine: Don’t Lecture Us About Sovereignty While Supporting U.S.

Pyongyang said Kyiv had a track record of backing America’s “unjust and illegal hostile policy.”

North Korea has shrugged off criticism from Ukraine that it’s undermining Ukrainian sovereignty by citing Kyiv’s support for U.S. policies that Pyongyang claims also undermine national sovereignty. The fight began when North Korea formally recognized two Russian-occupied “republics” in eastern Ukraine—Donetsk and Luhansk—as independent states. Ukraine cut diplomatic ties with North Korea after the move, saying the decision undermined Ukrainian sovereignty. But on Friday, the North Korean foreign ministry hit back, accusing Ukraine of hypocrisy for backing American-led sanctions designed to curb Kim Jong Un’s nuclear-weapons program—a policy which Pyongyang says impinges its own sovereignty. “Ukraine has no right to raise issue or dispute our legitimate exercise of sovereignty after committing an act that severely lacks fairness and justice between nations by actively joining the U.S. unjust and illegal hostile policy in the past,” the statement said.