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.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
RSS