South Korea on Tuesday (Oct 22) threatened to consider sending offensive weapons to Ukraine amid reports that troops from the North have been rushed to aid Russia’s war efforts. Seoul is worried that the deepening military partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang may end up boosting North Korea’s weapons technologies, including nuclear and missile programmes.
South Korea’s top officials earlier condemned the North’s alleged move to send soldiers to Russia in the National Security Council meeting. Terming it “a grave security threat”, Seoul alleged Pyongyang was forcing its youth to serve as Russian mercenaries for an unjustifiable war in Ukraine.
The officials in a statement said Seoul would take phased countermeasures, based on the level of cooperation North Korean and Russian militaries exhibit in coming days.
A senior South Korean presidential official was quoted as saying by news agencies that Seoul was considering sending both defensive and offensive weapons to Ukraine, apart from taking diplomatic and economic actions.
Why is S Korea worried?
Seoul is concerned that Moscow may offer high-tech technologies to Pyongyang to help it perfect its nuclear missiles, in exchange for support in Ukraine.
Of all, the biggest concern is Pyongyang’s potential acquisition of a space-based surveillance system that would pose a serious security threat to South Korea.
Seoul’s intelligence agency last week confirmed that North Korea sent 1,500 special operation forces to Russia this month.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had claimed that his government had intelligence that 10,000 North Korean soldiers were being prepared to join invading Russian forces.
However, both North Korea and Russia have rubbished these reports.
Russia’s United Nations Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia dismissed the claims on Monday (Oct 21), accusing the West of “circulating scaremongering with Iranian, Chinese and Korean bogeymen, each one of which is more absurd than the one before.”
(With inputs from agencies)