Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of deepening (a) commercial and (b) other economic ties between Russia and North Korea.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK remains deeply concerned about the implications of the deepening Russia-Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) relationship for both Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security. The rapid expansion of their military, political, and economic cooperation since the start of Russia's illegal war against Ukraine has resulted in ongoing flagrant violations of relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs) by both countries. Russia's support to DPRK's defence-industrial base, including the provision of oil and cash, as well as the experience DPRK troops have gained in Russia, allows it to support their weapons programmes and gain valuable military and technical insights. The UK has been clear that the DPRK must end its support for Russia's illegal war in Ukraine and must immediately withdraw its troops.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the involvement of North Korea in support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Russia's increasing reliance on support from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to help wage its illegal invasion of Ukraine demonstrates its underlying weakness. As we have said publicly, the DPRK is believed to have supplied hundreds of ballistic missiles and 20,000 containers of munitions to Russia. This includes millions of artillery and mortar rounds, accounting for around half of those Russia has fired against Ukraine. In addition the DPRK deployed approximately 11,000 combat troops to the Russian oblast of Kursk, sustaining 6000 casualties in offensive combat operations against Ukraine according to our latest estimates.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proposals they have for additional sanctions to further deter North Korea from its involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Russia's increasing reliance on support from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to help wage its illegal invasion of Ukraine demonstrates its underlying weakness. As we have said publicly, the DPRK is believed to have supplied 20,000 containers of munitions to Russia, and its artillery and mortar shells account for 60 per cent of those used in Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. The DPRK must immediately withdraw its troops and stop its provision of thousands of munitions, arms and other materiel. The DPRK is subject to an extensive range of UN sanctions and the UK will continue to work with our partners to influence and to hold the DPRK to account for supporting Russia's illegal war in Ukraine. On 24 February 2025 the UK announced its largest sanctions package against Russia since 2022, including DPRK officials involved in supporting Russian military action against Ukraine. We do not comment on future or potential expansions of our DPRK sanctions as this could affect their impact.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the international response to the involvement of North Korea in the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK and international partners remain deeply concerned about the implications of the deepening Russia-DPRK military cooperation. The G7 has consistently condemned the military cooperation between the DPRK and Russia, most recently at the G7 Foreign Ministers' meeting on 14 March at Charlevoix. In February, together with our G7 partners, the UK imposed its largest sanctions packages against Russia since 2022 which included DPRK officials. We have continually raised the issue in other multilateral fora, including at the UN, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and NATO, as well as through our regular engagement with likeminded partners. We will continue to impose costs on Russia and DPRK.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what diplomatic efforts they have made to highlight the involvement of North Korea in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The direct participation of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) troops in combat operations and supplies to Russia is another dangerous expansion of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, with serious consequences for European and Indo-Pacific security. We have repeatedly raised the issue on diplomatic channels, in multilateral fora, and through our regular engagement with likeminded partners. As part of the G7, we also designated several DPRK individuals involved in supporting the Russian military-industrial complex. Most recently, on 17 June, the Prime Minister met with President Lee Jae Myung where they discussed Ukraine and the challenges posed by the DPRK. On 16 December, the Foreign Secretary, along with G7 Foreign Ministers, condemned the increasing military cooperation between the DPRK and Russia.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much their Department has spent on translating documents into languages other than (a) English and (b) other native UK languages in each year since 2023; and what these languages were.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice has a statutory duty to provide Language Services to enable access to justice for users for whom English is not their first language and those who require visual and tactile services, under the provision of the Equality Act.
Language Service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery.
In FY 23/24 the total contracted spend was £915,037.52.
In FY 24/25 the total contracted spend was £1,003,283.32.
In FY 25/26 so far, the total contracted spend is £256,707.82.
The languages in this data exclude written translations into English, Welsh and Braille.
The languages translated into from English (United Kingdom) are:
Albanian (Albania)
Amharic (Ethiopia)
Arabic (Classical)
Arabic (Egypt)
Arabic (Modern Standard) Middle Eastern
Arabic (Modern Standard) North African
Arabic (Morocco)
Armenian (Armenia)
Bangla (Bangladesh)
Bosnian (Latin, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Bulgarian (Bulgaria)
Burmese
Burmese (Myanmar)
Catalan (Catalan)
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Croatian (Latin, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Czech (Czech Republic)
Danish (Denmark)
Dari (Afghanistan)
Dutch (Netherlands)
Estonian (Estonia)
Filipino (Philippines)
Finnish (Finland)
French (Belgium)
French (France)
Georgian (Georgia)
German (Austria)
German (Germany)
Greek (Greece)
Gujarati (India)
Hebrew (Israel)
Hindi (India)
Hungarian (Hungary)
Icelandic (Iceland)
Indonesian (Indonesia)
Italian (Italy)
Japanese (Japan)
Kinyarwanda (Rwanda)
Kiswahili (Kenya)
Korean (Korea)
Kurdish (Bahdini)
Kurdish (Sorani)
Latvian (Latvia)
Lingala (Congo DRC)
Lithuanian (Lithuania)
Macedonian (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)
Malay (Malaysia)
Malayalam (India)
Maltese (Malta)
Mirpuri (Central Asia)
Mongolian (Cyrillic, Mongolia)
Nepali (Nepal)
Norwegian, Bokmål (Norway)
Norwegian, Nynorsk (Norway)
Oromo (Ethiopia)
PahariPotwari (Central Asia)
Pashto (Afghanistan)
Persian (Afghanistan)
Persian (Iran)
Polish (Poland)
Portuguese (Brazil)
Portuguese (Portugal)
Punjabi (India)
Punjabi (Pakistan)
Romanian (Romania)
Romany (Europe)
Russian (Russia)
Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)
Serbian (Latin, Serbia)
Shona (Latin, Zimbabwe)
Sinhala (Sri Lanka)
Slovak (Slovakia)
Slovenian (Slovenia)
Somali (Somalia)
Spanish (Argentina)
Spanish (Latin America)
Spanish (Mexico)
Spanish (Spain)
Swedish (Sweden)
Tajik (Cyrillic, Tajikistan)
Tamazight (Latin, Algeria)
Tamil (India)
Tetum (Timor)
Thai (Thailand)
Tigrinya (Eritrea)
Turkish (Turkey)
Ukranian (Ukraine)
Urdu (Islamic Republic of Pakistan)
Uzbek (Latin, Uzbekistan)
Vietnamese (Vietnam)
Wolof (Senegal)
Yoruba (Nigeria)
The Languages translated into from English (United States) are:
Arabic (Egypt)
Hungarian (Hungary)
Polish (Poland)
Romanian (Romania)
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether (a) wood pellets and (b) other biomass has been imported from North Korea in the last 10 years.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK does not import wood pellets or biomass from North Korea for fuel or electricity generation. There are no plans to import wood pellets or biomass from North Korea.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to contribute to the initiative at the UN Security Council to refer the human rights situation in North Korea to the International Criminal Court.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK remains committed to working with international partners to hold the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) to account for their human rights violations. We hold regular meetings with other UN Security Council member states to identify ways in which we can improve the DPRK's human rights record. The UK also regularly cosponsors resolutions on the human rights situation in DPRK at the UN Human Rights Council and UN General Assembly Third Committee. We will continue to engage with key partners and allies to ensure the need for accountability remains at the heart of the international community's work to improve the human rights situation in the DPRK.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the volume of munitions North Korea has sent to Russia in its war against Ukraine; and whether they plan to engage with the International Criminal Court to ensure that the involvement of North Korea is considered as part of its investigations into crimes in Ukraine.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Russia's increasing reliance on support from the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) to help wage its illegal invasion of Ukraine demonstrates its underlying weakness. As we have said publicly, the DPRK is believed to have supplied 20,000 containers of munitions to Russia, and its artillery and mortar shells account for 60% of those used in Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. DPRK must immediately withdraw its troops and stop its provision of thousands of munitions, arms and other materiel. Together with our partners, we are taking action against those who enable Russia's war, including through sanctions.
The UK is fully committed to holding Russia to account for its illegal and barbaric actions in Ukraine. We welcome the progress the International Criminal Court (ICC) is making in its investigation, including the issuing of arrest warrants. The ICC is an independent judicial institution, and it is for the ICC Prosecutor to determine who should be prosecuted.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current human rights situation in North Korea; and how they are planning to respond to the recommendations of the APPG on North Korea's report Inquiry into Human Rights Violations in North Korea 2014-2020/1, published on 20 July 2021.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK remains deeply concerned by unacceptable reports of ongoing, widespread, and systematic human rights violations in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK). The UK remains active in many of the APPG's 2021 report recommendations and regularly calls on the DPRK government, through multilateral and bilateral channels, to address its appalling human rights record. Most recently, in April 2025, the UK co-sponsored a UN Human Right Council resolution renewing the UN Special Rapporteur mandate for a further year and requesting that the High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) provide updates to the UN Human Right Council to include options for strengthening accountability.