10/24/2024October 24, 2024
Seoul says it will ‘review’ potentially sending Ukraine weapons
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has warned that Seoul “won’t sit idle” over North Korea’s for .
South Korea is one of the world’s top weapons exporters, but Seoul has long resisted calls from the US and others to supply Ukraine with weapons.
However, on Thursday, Seoul said it would “review” potentially supplying Ukraine with weapons. Yoon said Thursday that South Korea would “take necessary actions in cooperation with the international community” to respond.
“While we have maintained a principle of not directly supplying lethal weapons, we may review this more flexibly depending on the actions of North Korean forces,” he told a press conference after meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Thursday in Seoul.
Yoon and Duda met to discuss strategic ties and finalize a new contract to export South Korean K-2 tanks to Poland by the end of the year.
Both leaders condemned the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia saying it presented a global threat.
“We agreed that North Korea’s troop deployment to Russia, which is in direct violation of the UN charter and UN Security Council resolutions, is a provocation that threatens global security,” Yoon said after the talks.
South Korean lawmakers on Wednesday said that North Korea has to Russia citing information from national intelligence, adding that 10,000 were expected to be in Russia by December.
On Thursday, South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong Hyun labelled North Korean soldiers stationed in Russia as “cannon foddermercenaries,” South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. He added that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un was exploiting hismilitary “for an illegal war of aggression.”
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