It is South Korea’s turn to warn Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. This Monday, October 21, the Russian ambassador in Seoul, Georgy Zinoviev, was summoned to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the sending of North Korean troops to Ukraine.
The spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov, announced Russia’s intention to “continue its cooperation” with North Korea, although he assured that this alliance “should not worry anyone” because “it is not directed against third countries.”
“North Korea is our close neighbor and partner. We are developing relations in all areas and this is our sovereign right,” he told reporters, declining to make direct comments about North Korean troops in Russia.
But British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, visiting Seoul on Monday, called Russia’s actions “reckless” and “illegal” and added that London would work with Seoul to respond, according to the South Korean presidential office.
North Korean soldiers already mobilized on the Russian front
Some 1,500 North Korean special forces soldiers are already in Russia to acclimatize and should soon go to the front, the South Korean intelligence agency said this Friday, October 18, which expects the sending of some 12,000 soldiers in total.
In its report, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service also published detailed satellite images showing, according to it, the first deployment of these soldiers.
Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun expressed Seoul’s “serious concerns” over the recent sending of North Korean troops to Russia to Russian Ambassador to South Korea Georgi Zinoviev and “strongly demanded the immediate withdrawal of North Korean forces.” and the cessation of cooperation in this area”. “the ministry said in a statement.
North Korea’s supply of weapons and troops to Russia for the war in Ukraine “represents a significant threat to the security not only of South Korea, but also of the international community,” he added.
The deputy minister also “emphasized that such actions violated numerous UN Security Council resolutions and the UN Charter.”
Georgi Zinoviev responded that “cooperation between Russia and North Korea (was) not directed against the security interests of South Korea,” according to a statement from his embassy.
North Korean troops in Ukraine, a “significant escalation” according to NATO
While relations between Pyongyang and Seoul are at their lowest point in decades, nuclear-armed North Korea has grown even closer to Russia, an ally of the North Korean regime since its creation after World War II.
South Korea and the United States have long claimed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sends weapons used in Ukraine to Russia.
A troop deployment “would mark a significant escalation” in the conflict in Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte declared on Monday, October 21.
In exchange for sending soldiers to help Russia in Ukraine, “Kim Jong Un intends to acquire military technologies, ranging from surveillance satellites to submarines,” said Cheong Seong-chang, director of strategy for the Korean Peninsula at the Sejong Institute.
North Korean soldiers will likely soon fight on the Ukrainian front, he added, noting that “it remains to be seen what impact they will have on the course of the conflict.”
A mutual defense treaty between Russia and North Korea
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Pyongyang last June, during which the two countries signed a mutual defense treaty whose details have not been revealed, fueling speculation about new arms transfers that violate the series of sanctions adopted. by the UN against Russia and the North. Korea.
For its part, South Korea, one of the world’s main arms exporters, has long refused to deliver weapons to Ukraine, applying its policy of not delivering weapons to countries in conflict.
But it sold billions of dollars worth of weapons (tanks, planes, rocket launchers) to Poland, whose president, Andrzej Duda, is scheduled to be in Seoul for a visit starting this Tuesday, October 22.
Source: BFM TV
