Guns to Taiwan? North Korea accuses US of destabilizing region

“Ithis is nothing more than a brazen act of putting a bomb outside someone else’s house and stating that it is to ensure housing security,” according to an article by international affairs analyst Kim Myong-chol, referring to the recent delivery of U.S. combat aircraft to Taiwan.

In the article, Kim estimates that the cost of ammunition supplied by Washington to Taipei in the last decade amounted to more than 39 billion dollars (34.7 billion euros).

The analyst states that the United States “has systematically destroyed regional stability,” adding that they have also supported the separatist forces that challenge the principle of “one China”.

Underlining that “Taiwan’s question is an internal matter of China,” and that “no external force has the right to interfere with it,” Kim said Washington should “think and act rationally” if it does not want to “face the powerful one directly” China.

The Beijing authorities consider Taiwan “inalienable part” of Chinese territory and do not rule out the use of force to take control of the island, a stance rejected by the Taiwanese Government, which argues that only the 23 million inhabitants of the island have the right to decide their political future.

For more than seven decades the US has been in the midst of disputes between both parties. Washington is Taipei's leading supplier of arms and, although he does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state, he undertakes to act in his defense in the event of a conflict with Beijing.

The North Korean authorities released these comments after the leader, Kim Jong-un, promised to strengthen strategic ties with Russia in a letter addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin on his birthday.

“It is with pleasure that I maintain a good friendship with you and open a new chapter for the development of relations between our two countries,” said the head of state, quoted by the North Korean news agency KCNA.

The “unshakable policy” – he added – consists in “making the integral strategic partnership and alliance forged with the Russian sister, as well as constantly expanding and developing joint work”.

Finally, the North Korean President expressed support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which he defended as a “war for the justice of the Russian people in defense of sovereignty, security interests and territorial integrity,” which will “doubtfully culminate in their victory.”.