Kim said this kind of petition could be a political plot by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, but did not provide any evidence for the assertion.

Following Russian president Vladimir Putin’s announcement last week that Moscow plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a public petition was filed to the Ukrainian presidential office’s website on Thursday, calling for Ukraine to host nuclear weapons on Ukrainian territory, or for it to be armed with its own nuclear weapons.

By this afternoon, the petition had gained only 611 signatures, far short of the 25,000 needed for a response from Zelensky. Kyiv officials have not commented on the petition so far.

North Korea is forging closer ties with the Kremlin amid shared isolation by the West.

It supported Moscow’s position after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, including its later proclaimed annexation of parts of Ukraine that most UN members condemned as illegal. It has denied providing arms to Moscow.