NORTH KOREA RECOGNIZES CRIMEA AS PART OF RUSSIA

A new political Atlas of the World released in Pyongyang had Crimea be a part of Russia, the Russian Embassy in North Korea posted on its official Facebook page.

“The publishing house “Scientific Encyclopedia” released a new political Atlas of the World. We noticed that the Crimean peninsula (pages 240-242) has already been painted in Russian colors. As we explained in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK, the republic respects the results of the referendum held in Crimea on the entry of the peninsula into the Russian Federation, considers its results to be legitimate and fully compliant with international legal norms,” the embassy said in their statement.

According to the statement, Pyongyang has called Crimea “an integral part of Russian Federation” at the UN vote. North Korea also recognizes the Kuril Islands as Russian territory.

On October 2, North Korea opened its second internet connection with the outside world via Russia. Previously the Internet access in North Korea was estimated to be limited to somewhere between a few hundred and just over 1,000 connections, and routed exclusively via China. The internet traffic is now handled by China Unicom and Russian TransTeleCom, with the Russian company roughly transmitting 60% of North Korean incoming and outgoing traffic.

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