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SKorea Warns Can Send Arms to Ukraine 10/22 06:06
South Korea warned Tuesday it could consider supplying weapons to Ukraine in
response to North Korea allegedly dispatching troops to Russia, as both North
Korea and Russia denied the movements.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea warned Tuesday it could consider
supplying weapons to Ukraine in response to North Korea allegedly dispatching
troops to Russia, as both North Korea and Russia denied the movements.
The South Korean statement is apparently meant to pressure Russia not to
bring in North Korean troops in its war against Ukraine. South Korean officials
worry that Russia may reward North Korea by giving it sophisticated weapons
technologies that can boost the North's nuclear and missile programs that
target South Korea.
In an emergency National Security Council meeting, top South Korean
officials condemned North Korea's alleged dispatch of troops as "a grave
security threat" to South Korea and the international community. They described
North Korea as "a criminal group" that forces its youths to serve as Russian
mercenaries for an unjustifiable war, the South Korean presidential office said
in a statement.
The officials agreed to take phased countermeasures, linking the level of
their responses to progress in Russian-North Korean military cooperation,
according to the statement.
Possible steps include diplomatic, economic and military options, and South
Korea could consider sending both defensive and offensive weapons to Ukraine, a
senior South Korean presidential official told reporters on condition of
anonymity in a background briefing.
The official said North Korea could attempt to get high-tech Russian
technologies to perfect its nuclear missiles. The official said Russia's
possible help for North Korea's efforts to modernize its outdated conventional
weapons systems and acquire a space-based surveillance system would pose a
serious security threat to South Korea as well.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, South Korea has joined U.S.-led
sanctions against Moscow and shipped humanitarian and financial support to
Kyiv. But it has avoided directly supplying arms to Ukraine in line with its
policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflicts.
South Korea's spy agency said last week it had confirmed that North Korea
sent 1,500 special operation forces to Russia this month. Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his government had intelligence that 10,000 North
Korea soldiers were being prepared to join invading Russian forces.
North Korea and Russia intensify cooperation
North Korea and Russia have been sharply boosting their cooperation in the
past two years. In June, they signed a major defense deal requiring both
countries to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance
if either is attacked. South Korea said at the time it would consider sending
arms to Ukraine, a similar statement that it made Tuesday.
South Korea's spy agency said that North Korea had sent more than 13,000
containers of artillery, missiles and other conventional arms to Russia since
August 2023 to replenish its dwindling weapons stockpiles.
North Korea and Russia have denied the North Korean troop deployment as well
as the purported weapons transfer.
At a U.N. Security Council meeting Monday, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily
Nebenzia dismissed the South Korean assertion as well as Western allegations of
Iran supplying Russia with missiles and China providing arms components. He
accused the West of "circulating scaremongering with Iranian, Chinese and
Korean bogeymen, each one of which is more absurd than the one before."
At a separate U.N. committee meeting, a North Korean diplomat said his
delegation feels no need to comment on the troop dispatch, calling it
"groundless, stereotype rumors aimed at smearing the image" of the North and
undermining the legitimate cooperation between two sovereign states.
Also Tuesday, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called
South Korean and Ukraine governments "lunatics" as she slammed them for making
"reckless remarks against nuclear weapons states."
The U.S. and NATO haven't confirmed North Korea's troop deployment, but they
warned against the danger of such a development if true.
U.S. deputy ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood said that if true, the North
Korean troop dispatch marks "a dangerous and highly concerning development" and
noted that the U.S. was "consulting with our allies and partners on such a
dramatic move."
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