KIEV: Ukraine has broken/severed diplomatic ties with North Korea for acknowledging the independence of Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia.
\The Ukrainian foreign ministry expressed its severe condemnation of North Korea's decision to recognise the "so-called "independence" of the territories temporarily seized by the Russian Federation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine" in a statement published on its website on Wednesday. "We view this decision as an attempt by Pyongyang to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, a flagrant violation of the Ukrainian Constitution, the UN Charter, and the fundamental norms and principles of international law."
The Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), a quasi-state established in April 2014 by pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk region, earlier said that it was in talks with North Korea concerning Pyongyang's recognition of its independence. This prompted Ukraine to make its move.
As per earlier reports, the North Korean embassy in Moscow has officially stated that the North has, like Russia and Syria before it, recognised the independence of both the DPR and the Luhansk People's Republic.
"In response to such an unfriendly act, The Ukrainian foreign ministry said the severance of diplomatic ties with North Korea, also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, referring to North Korea by its official name.
The international sanctions placed on Pyongyang, it was said, had already caused the country's political and commercial connections with North Korea to be halted.
North Korea supports independence of individual territories in Ukraine