New NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a press conference held at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday. (AFP - Yonhap)
North Korea has denounced the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's condemnation of military cooperation between the North and Russia, warning that the entity could face "tragic consequences" if it continues to pursue an anti-North Korea stance.
NATO issued a statement last week that condemns North Korea and Iran for "fueling" Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine with their direct military support to Moscow.
North Korea's foreign ministry on Sunday denounced NATO's statement, claiming the alliance appears to be on the front line of the anti-North Korea confrontation and calling NATO a product of US hegemonic ambition.
"NATO, no more than a tool of the US for war, slandered the intensified legal cooperation between independent sovereign states while distorting the essence of the Ukrainian incident," an unnamed ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying by the Korean Central News Agency.
The official claimed that NATO is "stretching its tentacles" to the Korean Peninsula and the Asia-Pacific region" in a bid to find another justification of its existence after playing a "war gamble" in Ukraine.
"If NATO continues to try hard to infringe upon the dignity, sovereignty, security and interests of the DPRK while persistently pursuing hostile policy toward it, NATO blindly following the US will be held wholly responsible for the tragic consequences to be entailed by it," the spokesperson said.
DPRK is North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. (Yonhap)
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