South Korea warns it could arm Ukraine over North Korea-Russia ties

Fear grows around the mounting Korean involvement in the war in Ukraine, with Kim Jong Un ‘s sister taking aim at Seoul as the South warned it could consider supplying arms to Kyiv to combat Pyongyang’s alleged training of troops in Russia. Kim Yo Jong, 37, accused South Korea of infringing the sovereignty of her repressive ‘nuclear’ state with drone incursions, and dismissed Kyiv and Seoul as ‘bad dogs’ and ‘lunatics’ over allegations the North is preparing for war in Ukraine. ‘Seoul and Kyiv are exact counterparts in going about bagging and letting loose reckless remarks against nuclear weapons states at random without follow-up capability,’ she said.

The comments came as new footage appeared to show North Korean troops on the ground in eastern Russia, amid intelligence assessments from Seoul and Kyiv that they will be deployed in Ukraine. Seoul stood its ground, suggesting it could consider sending both defensive and offensive weapons to Ukraine, according to a senior presidential official speaking on condition of anonymity. 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 weapons to Ukraine, a senior South Korean presidential official told reporters on condition of anonymity in a background briefing. The official warned 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The official said Russia’s possible help for North Korea’s efforts to modernize its outdated conventional weapons systems and acquire a space-based surveillance system would pose a serious security threat to South Korea as well. 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.

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. Kim Yo Jong (pictured) warned both Seoul and Kyiv of a ‘horrible situation’ with ‘fatal consequences’ should they threaten the North. She said making ‘reckless remarks… seems to be a common feature of bad dogs bred by the U.S.’, referring to the South and Ukraine. Ruler Kim’s sister holds key positions in the ruling structure of North Korea.

Moscow and Pyongyang 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. Pictured: Troops march in a parade for the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding day in Pyongyang. 

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