[INTERVIEW] Russian ambassador denies arms deals with North

Russian Ambassador to Korea Georgy Zinoviev denied any arms deals between Moscow and Pyongyang in an exclusive interview with the JoongAng Ilbo. “A photo taken somewhere by an anonymous person cannot serve as faithful evidence...

Russian Ambassador to Korea Georgy Zinoviev speaks with the JoongAng Ilbo at the Russian Embassy in Seoul last Friday. [WOO SANG-JO]

Russian Ambassador to Korea Georgy Zinoviev denied any arms deals between Moscow and Pyongyang in an exclusive interview with the JoongAng Ilbo.

“A photo taken somewhere by an anonymous person cannot serve as faithful evidence,” Zinoviev told the JoongAng Ilbo last Friday, speaking through an interpreter at the Russian Embassy in Seoul. “Instead, it can be a means of propaganda.”

Zinoviev took over the Russian Embassy in Seoul on Jan. 4, replacing the former ambassador Andrey Kulik, who left the post in December last year.

Both Pyongyang and Moscow have denied arms deals between the two. However, South Korean and U.S. officials have cited satellite reconnaissance of Rajin port in North Korea, which shows a significant number of containers being loaded onto Russia-bound ships, as circumstantial evidence of weapons being delivered to Russia.

The White House announced earlier this month that Russia had used short-range ballistic missiles provided by North Korea in attacks against Ukraine.

“The so-called evidence should be submitted to an expert organization for expert analysis,” Zinoviev said.

A panel of experts to the UN Security Council’s sanctions committee on the North issued a report last October on suspected arms dealing between North Korea and Russia but did not claim to have evidence.

More high-level meetings between Moscow and Pyongyang were expected to occur, according to the North Korean media, which reported this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin would soon visit the North.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui met with Putin and other officials in Moscow last week.

“Russia is fulfilling its international obligations and developing relations with our friendly country, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea,” said the Russian envoy, referring to the North by its full name.

The following are excerpts of the interview, edited for clarity and length.

Q. After South Korea joined international sanctions on Russia in March 2022, Russia included the South in its list of unfriendly countries. Russian officials have recently described South Korea as “the friendliest among unfriendly countries.” How do you assess the two countries’ relations today?

A. Many politicians in the West have publicly said on several occasions that “Russia must be subdued” and that “Russia must be punished,” but Korea did not do so. South Korea seems to view the current geopolitical situation differently than other unfriendly countries. In the long term, Korea wants to have Russia as a strong neighbor and good friend. We hope Korea will become the first to go from Russia’s list of unfriendly countries to friendly countries. Bilateral relations remain constructive.

Koreans are worried that North Korea-Russia arms deals will hurt the security of the Korean Peninsula.

There is no basis for the criticism directed at Russia. The so-called evidence should be submitted to an expert organization for expert analysis. The UN Security Council's sanctions committee on the North, which monitors the implementation of sanctions, would be able to deal with this issue practically. A photo taken somewhere by an anonymous person cannot serve as faithful evidence. Instead, it can be a means of propaganda. Russia is a responsible member of the international community and is complying with all Security Council resolutions.

If Russia is a responsible member of the international community, as claimed, can we assume that it will never recognize North Korea as a de facto nuclear state in the future?

It is difficult to answer about a hypothetical situation. However, Russia is one of the five nuclear weapons states that first signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and is acting in accordance with the treaty.

Russia agreed to the UN Security Council resolution passed in 2017 that obligates the Security Council to impose additional caps on petroleum imports if North Korea tests nuclear weapons or intercontinental ballistic missiles. This measure has been de facto void in recent years as the council has failed to produce a joint sanctions resolution on the North. Doesn’t that mean Russia’s position on the North has changed?

Intensifying pressure on North Korea will not help solve the Korean Peninsula problem. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, North Korea has isolated itself to a degree beyond what any sanctions imposed on it over the years could have done, and it made progress in developing weapons in those three years. Now, we need to consider the fundamental and long-term goals on the Korean Peninsula. Is our goal really to punish North Korean civilians and make them suffer, to achieve a change in the North Korean regime, or for South Korea to absorb North Korea? What we want is peace and stability.

Sanctions are meant to be a means to resolve the problem through dialogue with the North. But North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has recently refused dialogue and is even talking about occupying the South using nuclear weapons.

I’m not the one to say this or that regarding the history of the Korean Peninsula. However, Kim Jong-un's remarks can be interpreted to mean the two Koreas should be considered separate countries rather than a Peninsula to be united. After all, it has become difficult to deny that two different countries are on the Korean Peninsula. Hence, Russia has diplomatic ties with South Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Russian officials once said that South Korea's provision of lethal weapons to Ukraine would cross a red line.

That is correct. This is not because we are afraid of South Korea’s arms support. We have already experienced worse matters. There is no way that the flow of war will change just because South Korean weapons are provided. However, the fact that South Korea has not provided lethal weapons to Ukraine has been accepted in Russia as sincerity and a constructive attitude toward Russia. How would the Russians feel if South Korean-made ammunition was used to kill Russians? South Korea's arms support will only result in casualties, prolonging the war and delaying the establishment of peace.

BY YOO JEE-HYE, PARK HYUN-JU [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]