South Korea’s potential arms support for Ukraine should not be equated with North Korea’s suspected munitions delivery to Russia, as Russia’s invasion is illegal, stated NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, as per the South Korean Yonhap news agency.
On 20 June, South Korea strongly condemned a strategic partnership agreement signed by the leaders of Russia and North Korea, stating that it violates United Nations sanctions. In response, Seoul’s presidential office said it would review the possibility of supplying weapons to Ukraine.
Cooperation between two dictatorships could potentially lead to a conflict between Seoul and Pyongyang, which could decrease Ukraine’s support, as it happened after Hamas attacked Israel in 2023.
Stoltenberg said NATO would welcome “any major support” from South Korea to Ukraine, adding that North Korean threats and the war in Ukraine show that ensuring security is not bound by region.
“We should not have some kind of moral equivalence between North Korea’s support to Russia and potential support from South Korea to Ukraine because this is war aggression.
Russia has violated law, attacked a neighbor, so support to Russia’s illegal war is illegal. Support for Ukraine defending itself is legal. It is enshrined in the UN Charter,“ Stoltenberg claimed.
Earlier, Russian ruler Vladimir Putin warned South Korea it would be making “a big mistake” if it sent weapons to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, a South Korean TV channel reported that North Korea may deploy large-scale military engineering forces to the occupied Donetsk Oblast as early as July 2024. The channel cites a South Korean government official as its source.
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