Pyongyang slams Macron's criticism over N. Korea-Russia military cooperation

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a keynote speech at the Shangri-La security forum in Singapore, May 31. Yonhap

North Korea on Thursday denounced French President Emmanuel Macron for criticizing the North's troop dispatch to Russia over the war against Ukraine.

During a keynote speech at the Shangri-La security forum in Singapore last week, Macron said China should prevent North Korea from being engaged on European soil if Beijing does not want the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to be involved in Asia.

A North Korean security expert on international affairs took issue with Macron's speech, describing it as "a paradox just like a guilty party filing the suit first," according to the Korean Central News Agency.

"Quite contrary to the claim of Macron, the armed forces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea did not 'intervene' in Europe but participated in the righteous liberation operations to repel the Ukrainian neo-Nazi forces who invaded the territory of the ally," the analyst said.

The expert claimed "normal" military cooperation between the North and Russia can neither be a subject of criticism nor a pretext for NATO's military interference in the Asia-Pacific region.