South Korea’s President Warns Against North Korean Troops in Russia: ‘We Won’t Remain Idle’

South Korean President Yoon Seok-Yeol, in a phone conversation with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, vowed that his country will take action in response to North Korea’s recent deployment of combat troops to assist Russia in the war in Ukraine. The development was reported by major South Korean media on Monday.

Yoon confirmed that South Korean intelligence had verified North Korea’s deployment of at least 1,500 elite commandos to Russia for combat operations in Ukraine. This marks a significant escalation in Pyongyang’s involvement, which has previously included substantial military support to the Kremlin.

The conservative South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo ran the headline: “Yoon: ‘Closer Russia-North Korea Military Ties Threaten World Peace… We Will Not Remain Idle.’” Yoon reportedly told Secretary Rutte that North Korea’s reckless military actions are disrupting the international order and threatening global peace, as well as the security of the Korean Peninsula. He assured that South Korea will not passively watch these escalations unfold.

South Korean media also highlighted a post by NATO Secretary General Rutte on X (formerly Twitter), where he stated that he had spoken with President Yoon to express concerns over North Korean troops being deployed to Russia. The discussion also touched on defense cooperation and the shared security concerns of both the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions, according to the Korea Times.

On Friday, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) released text, photographs, and video evidence confirming that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had significantly increased his country’s military aid to Russia by sending combat troops. This move follows previous North Korean contributions of arms and ammunition to Russia’s war effort.

Ukraine’s HUR (Main Directorate of Intelligence) largely corroborated the South Korean reports over the weekend. Some Ukrainian military sources, though unconfirmed, suggest that North Korea may have committed as many as 12,000 troops to assist Russia, a figure far larger than the one reported by South Korea’s NIS.

President Yoon has expressed a desire to work closely with NATO and its member countries to formulate practical responses to this new military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.

In response to these developments, Russia’s Ambassador to South Korea, Georgy Zinoviev, was summoned by Vice South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Hong Kyun for a meeting. The South Korean official strongly condemned North Korea’s dispatch of troops to Russia, labeling it a “grave security threat” to both South Korea and the international community. While the meeting was confirmed, Zinoviev’s response has not been disclosed.

North Korea’s military assistance to Russia began in mid-2023 with the shipment of approximately 1.5 million artillery shells and surface-to-surface missiles, which have been used to target Ukrainian forces and civilian infrastructure. These shipments blatantly violate United Nations sanctions that prohibit arms transfers involving North Korea.

According to analysts, North Korean ammunition has accounted for more than a third of all munitions fired by Russian forces in Ukraine over the last 18 months. This supply has allowed Russian troops to vastly outshoot Ukrainian forces, sometimes by a ratio of 10:1.

While Ukraine has struggled to secure sufficient ammunition from its allies—due in part to the U.S. being cautious with its resources and disorganized European production—South Korea is a major producer of 155mm artillery shells. Though South Korea has generally supported Ukraine, its longstanding policy prohibits the direct export of lethal weapons to countries engaged in active conflict.

An article in Dong-A Ilbo hinted that this policy could be reconsidered if North Korea’s destabilizing military involvement in Ukraine continues. South Korea currently produces around 200,000 rounds of 155mm artillery shells annually, alongside other critical munitions needed by Ukrainian forces.

In June, Yoon’s administration condemned the signing of a North Korea-Russia arms and military exchange agreement, which upgraded security cooperation between the two nations. At the time, the South Korean government hinted that it might reassess its ban on the export of lethal weapons to warring states, particularly if it perceived a direct threat to national security.

A cross-government legal review is currently underway to explore potential exceptions to the export ban. If serious threats to South Korean national security are confirmed, the review could lead to South Korea directly supplying weapons or ammunition to Ukraine.

In 2023, the U.S. facilitated the indirect transfer of over 300,000 155mm artillery shells from South Korea to Ukraine. Some of these were highly effective cluster munitions, which Ukrainian forces have successfully used to repel Russian infantry assaults.

So far, South Korea’s contributions to Ukraine have largely been non-lethal, including trucks, protective equipment, and mine-clearing tools. However, the continued escalation of North Korea’s involvement in Ukraine could push Seoul to reconsider its stance on providing lethal aid.

The growing military ties between North Korea and Russia pose serious challenges to global stability, and President Yoon has made it clear that South Korea will not remain idle in the face of these threats.

Source: Kyivpost.com