South Korea could directly supply lethal weapons to Ukraine after it accused North Korea of sending 1,500 special forces troops to train in Russia’s Far East.
Seoul said the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea represented a threat to the international order and said it was preparing diplomatic, economic, and military countermeasures, a senior South Korean official said on Tuesday.
“We would consider supplying weapons for defensive purposes as part of the step-by-step scenarios, and if it seems they are going too far, we might also consider offensive use,” the official told reporters.
Officials in Seoul fear Russia could reward North Korea by handing over sophisticated weapons technology that could be used in its nuclear and missile programmes that target South Korea.
It comes after South Korea’s spy agency said North Korea was preparing to send 12,000 troops to Russia ahead of deployment to fight against Ukraine, marking its full entry into the war.
Last week, the Ukrainian government released footage showing soldiers, thought to be speaking Korean, lining up to receive uniforms at a military base. Another video appeared to show North Korean troops training in Russia.
During his evening address on Sunday, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said there was strong evidence that North Korea is sending both equipment and soldiers to Russia.
“I am grateful to those leaders and representatives of states who do not close their eyes and speak frankly about this co-operation for the sake of a larger war. We expect a normal, honest, strong reaction from our partners on this,” he said.
In response to reports from South Korea and Ukraine, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, described Seoul and Kyiv as “bad dogs bred by the US”.
‘A horrible situation’
She warned that any military provocation against countries with nuclear weapons, referring to Russia and North Korea, could lead to “a horrible situation unimaginable for politicians and military experts”.
“Such deeds can be done only by lunatics in Seoul and Kyiv regimes,” Kim Yo-jong said in a statement released by the North Korean authorities on Tuesday.
While Russia has not confirmed reports about North Korean soldiers’ participation in its war efforts, Moscow defended its military cooperation with Pyongyang on Monday, emphasising that it is not directed against Seoul’s interests.
Experts believe the additional manpower sent by North Korea could provide Russia with more flexibility on troop deployments.
“It allows Russia to free up more of its own soldiers that can be deployed in ways that it wants to,” said Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a professor of international relations at King’s College London.
In addition to the deployment of soldiers, analysts also believe North Korea continues to play a key role in supplying millions of munitions to Russia. Since 2023, Pyongyang has sent at least five million munitions to Russia in exchange for food and other resources.
‘War machine’
“Since China is not directly supplying munitions to Russia, the Russians find North Korea could be induced to provide munitions and other equipment to keep its war machine going,” Stephen Nagy, a politics professor at the International Christian University in Japan, told the Telegraph.
While the treaty signed by Russia and North Korea in June did not lay out specifics of their military cooperation, Nagy said Pyongyang could receive technological support from Moscow to refine its missile and satellite systems.
“There are concerns that the Russian-North Korean collaboration could help refine North Korea’s missile launching system and it could help cement the North Korean regime’s nuclear deterrence systems and be highly destabilising for the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
| The Telegraph|
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