North Korea’s reported decision to deploy thousands of troops to fight alongside Russia in its war against Ukraine has prompted South Korea to consider increasing its own support to Kyiv.
Officials in Seoul are reportedly weighing a decision to send a team of military intelligence personnel to Ukraine to monitor some 1,500 North Korean special forces troops believed to have arrived in the combat zone. Up to 12,000 North Korean soldiers could be sent to fight alongside Moscow’s troops in Russian-occupied Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
The South Korean military team could be used to analyze North Korean battlefield tactics or take part in interrogations of captured North Korean soldiers, Yonhap said. It has still not been confirmed how many North Korean soldiers could deploy to the front lines in Ukraine and how soon they will get there.
Seoul is considering a combination of diplomatic, economic and military countermeasures to respond to Pyongyang’s decision to back Russian President Vladimir Putin in his war against Ukraine, a South Korean government official told The Korea Times. South Korea has strictly adhered to U.S. and international sanctions against dealing with Russia in response to Moscow’s decision to invade its neighbor in February 2022.
“Depending on how the military cooperation between North Korea and Russia develops, we may consider providing Ukraine with ‘defensive weapons’ and potentially progressing to ‘offensive weapons’ later in the scenario,” the official said.
South Korea’s defense industry is considered one of the most sophisticated in the world, but Seoul to date has said sending arms to Ukraine would violate its policy of not supplying a country actively engaged in conflict.
The U.S. and NATO still have not independently confirmed the plan for the North Korean troops’ deployment, but they warned Pyongyang against the step. 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,” the Associated Press reported.
South Korea has watched with growing alarm as North Korea’s security and economic ties with Russia have warmed in recent months, fearing the Kremlin could be able to supply Pyongyang’s already formidable armed forces with sophisticated new weapons and technology.
Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo, a key foreign policy advisor to South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, said the government “strongly condemns” North Korea for deploying its soldiers to Russia and supplying them with large quantities of military weapons.
“The North’s troop dispatch constitutes a serious security threat not only to South Korea but to the international community,” he told reporters in South Korea. “It blatantly violates the United Nations Security Council resolutions that prohibit all military cooperation with North Korea.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Zelenskyy called the deployment of two brigades of North Korean military personnel a “challenge” but said Ukrainian soldiers were ready to respond to the new threats.
“What’s important is that our partners don’t turn a blind eye to it,” Mr. Zelenskyy said in a statement on X. “I’m grateful to all the countries and leaders who have condemned North Korea’s involvement in Russia’s war. It’s clear that in Pyongyang, just as in Moscow, they don’t value human life.”
Ukraine is expecting a “firm, concrete response” from the world community about North Korea’s decision to support the Kremlin’s invasion force, Mr. Zelenskyy said.
“If Russia can still expand and extend this war, then everyone in the world who is not helping to force Russia into peace is, in fact, helping Putin wage this war,” he said. “Aggressors must be stopped.”
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.