Presidential office says South Korea may provide weapons to Ukraine if cooperation between Russia and North Korea goes too far

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, to discuss bilateral military cooperation to counter Russia on October 21 (local time). EPA Yonhap News

The presidential office said on October 22, "We will implement step-by-step countermeasures in accordance with the progress of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea following North’s dispatch of combat troops." It also said that if the degree of military cooperation between the two goes too far, the South Korean government could consider providing offensive weapons to Ukraine.

Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo said in a briefing at the presidential office that the National Security Council (NSC) held an emergency meeting to “discuss measures to respond to North Korea's deployment to Russia and participation in Russia's war in Ukraine.”

"The participants of the meeting strongly condemned North Korea's dispatch of troops to Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, pointing out that it is a serious security threat to South Korea as well as the international community and a blatant violation of the U.N. Security Council's resolution banning any military cooperation with North Korea," Kim said.

“The South Korean government calls for the immediate withdrawal of North Korean troops and decided not to sit idly by and deal with the international community if the current military collusion between Russia and North Korea continues,” Kim said. “We will work closely with our allies to ensure that strong and effective measures against military cooperation between Russia and North Korea are implemented,” he said.

“We will comprehensively examine possible scenarios and prepare corresponding measures in preparation for the possibility that their military cooperation poses a significant threat to our security,” Kim added. “The participants in the meeting pointed out that the North Korean regime's practice of sending North Korean youth to fight as mercenaries for Russia is an act of self-identification as a criminal organization.”

The presidential office said it was preparing diplomatic, economic and military countermeasures against the “phased measures.” A high-ranking official at the presidential office told reporters, "We will prepare our response plan in advance, depending on the scenario of the development of bilateral (cooperation) between Russia, and North Korea.”

He explained that if, for example, North’s conventional weapons performance is improved through its cooperation with Russia, or if the North has a proper military reconnaissance satellite, or if the North Korean military actually participates in the war in Ukraine, it poses a serious threat to South Korea's security. However, the official was coy about specific response plans, saying that revealing the cards the government will use could “negatively affect the judgment and calculation of the other party.”

Asked if the South Korean government would also consider providing weapons of destruction to the war in Ukraine, the senior official said, "All weapons can be killed or destroyed as intended," adding, "We will simply divide them into defensive weapons and offensive weapons." He also said, “We can consider providing defensive weapons while looking at the scenario (of their cooperation) in stages, and if we feel that they cross a line, we can consider providing offensive weapons at the end.”

“The dispatched North Korean military is in the process of aligning mutual unity with the Russian military," the official added. ”We need to see what the psychological state of the North Korean youth will be like when (the troops) actually enter the battlefield, how skilled they will be with weapons, and whether (their participation in the war) will go as planned.”

Regarding the Russian government's announcement of cooperation with North Korea as a "sovereign matter," the official criticized, "It is unjustified to claim that it is a sovereign right to act in violation of the UN Security Council (Security Council) resolution."

The senior official said, “The North Korean regime is not telling its people what they are doing with Russia. We will do everything we can to properly inform them of how the North Korean leadership is treating them and how the people are being exploited and extorted.”

Earlier, the South Korean military informed North Koreans of the North Korean military's dispatch to Russia through propaganda broadcast loudspeakers around the General Outpost (GOP) area in the front lines.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.