South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday raised the possibility of supplying Ukraine with weapons while stressing that his government “won’t sit idle” as North Korea allegedly sends troops to support Russia’s aggression toward its neighbor.
Yoon spoke to reporters after a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda that came a day after US and South Korean officials said they believe about 3,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia and are training at several locations.
South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers that North Korea likely aims to send a total of 10,000 troops to Russia by the end of the year.
Photo: Reuters
Yoon’s meeting with Duda was focused on expanding defense cooperation between the countries amid the ongoing conflict. Poland has signed a series of arms deals with South Korea in the past two years to acquire tanks, howitzers and missile launchers in an effort to bolster its military capabilities following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Both Moscow and Pyongyang have denied the presence of North Korean troops.
Yoon said South Korea would work with allies and partners to prepare countermeasures that could be rolled out in stages depending on the degree of military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.
Seoul’s steps could potentially include sending weapons to Ukraine, which would mark a departure from a long-standing policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflict, Yoon said.
He said North Korea’s alleged troop deployment to Russia is a “provocation that threatens global security beyond just the Korean Peninsula and Europe.”
“If North Korea dispatches special forces to the Ukraine war as part of Russia-North Korea cooperation, we will support Ukraine in stages and also review and implement measures necessary for security on the Korean Peninsula,” Yoon said during a joint news conference with Duda.
“While we have maintained our principle of not directly supplying lethal weapons, we can also review our stance more flexibly, depending on the level of North Korean military activities,” Yoon said.
South Korea, a growing arms exporter, has provided humanitarian aid and other non-lethal support to Ukraine and joined US-led economic sanctions against Moscow.
It has so far resisted calls by Kyiv and NATO to directly supply Ukraine with weapons.
During their summit, Yoon and Duda agreed to “actively support” additional deliveries of South Korean military equipment to Poland, including a new deal for Korean K-2 tanks the governments hope to finalize this year, Yoon’s office said.
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