 |
| ▲ Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro (C) is escorted through a hallway inside the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration New York office building on Jan. 4, 2026, in this photo captured from the White House Rapid Response X account. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) N Korea-Venezuela
(LEAD) N. Korea 'strongly' denounces U.S. capture of Venezuela's Maduro
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout; RECASTS headline, lead para)
SEOUL, Jan. 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Sunday "strongly" denounced the U.S. military strike that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, calling the ouster of Maduro "the most serious form of encroachment of sovereignty."
The North's foreign ministry made the remarks as U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington has captured Maduro and his wife in a large-scale military strike.
The North's foreign ministry "strongly denounces the U.S. hegemony-seeking act committed in Venezuela as the most serious form of encroachment of sovereignty," according to the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The capture of Maduro came after the Trump administration's monthslong pressure campaign against the Venezuelan leader.
It was also in line with the U.S. administration's drive to reassert American power in the Western Hemisphere and its vow to combat drug-trafficking cartels, while some critics pointed out that it proceeded without a congressional authorization process and could escalate regional tensions.
"The incident is another example that clearly confirms once again the rogue and brutal nature of the U.S. which the international community has so frequently witnessed for a long time," the North's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the KCNA.
The ministry urged the international community to "recognize the seriousness" of the Venezuelan situation and raise protests against the U.S.' "habitual violation of sovereignty of other countries."
Earlier in the day, South Korea's military said North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the East Sea, marking the North's first weapons testing this year.
(END)
(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved
