South Korea says ‘not ruling out’ supplying weapons to Ukraine

President Yoon signals displacement based connected Pyongyang’s enactment for Russia and says helium would ‘prioritise antiaircraft weapons’.

South Korea is not ruling retired providing weapons straight to Ukraine, President Yoon Suk-yeol has said, pursuing North Korea’s deployment of troops to enactment Russia successful its war.

Pyongyang’s engagement successful the struggle presented a menace to Seoul, arsenic the reclusive state’s soldiers get much-needed combat experience, which its subject lacks, and additionally gets rewarded by Moscow with delicate subject exertion transfers, Yoon told a quality league connected Thursday.

South Korea, a large arms exporter, has a longstanding argumentation of not providing weapons to countries successful conflict.

“Now, depending connected the level of North Korean involvement, we volition gradually set our enactment strategy successful phases,” Yoon said.

“This means we are not ruling retired the anticipation of providing weapons.”

Yoon said helium discussed North Korea with United States president-elect Donald Trump successful a telephone speech that laid the groundwork for a face-to-face gathering successful the “near future”.

North Korea has go 1 of the astir vocal and important backers of Russia’s warfare successful Ukraine.

South Korea and the West person agelong accused Pyongyang of supplying artillery shells and missiles to Moscow for usage successful Ukraine.

But quality reports from Seoul, Washington and NATO person revealed that North Korea has deployed 10,000 troops to Russia, indicating an adjacent deeper engagement successful the conflict.

Yoon said his bureau would show the unfolding developments related to the operations of North Korean soldiers, and if helium decided to supply weapons to Ukraine, the archetypal batch would beryllium defensive.

“If we proceed with weapons support, we would prioritise antiaircraft weapons arsenic a archetypal consideration,” helium said, without elaborating.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov told South Korean broadcaster KBS that the Ukrainian subject had its archetypal confrontation with North Korean soldiers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has criticised the West’s deficiency of effect to the accomplishment of the North Korean soldiers connected the beforehand lines, said these “first battles with North Korea unfastened a caller section of instability successful the world”.

South Korea supplies weapons to Poland, including rocket launchers, tanks and FA-50 combatant aircraft.

In a defence accumulation successful Seoul successful October 2023, Yoon said that helium wants his state to go the “world’s fourth-largest defence instrumentality exporter”.

Compared with his dovish predecessor Moon Jae-in, Yoon has taken a pugnacious stance with the nuclear-armed North portion improving ties with information state Washington.

Since North Korean person Kim Jong Un’s 2nd acme with then-president Trump collapsed successful Hanoi successful 2019, Pyongyang has abandoned diplomacy, doubling down connected weapons improvement and rejecting Washington’s offers of talks.

While successful office, Trump met with Kim 3 times, opening with a landmark acme successful Singapore successful June 2018, though the brace failed to marque overmuch advancement connected efforts to denuclearise the North.

Trump has antecedently accused South Korea of getting a “free ride” connected US subject powerfulness and demanded it wage acold much of the outgo of keeping US troops successful the state to antagonistic the menace of aggression by North Korea.

On Monday, a time earlier the US election, South Korea and the US signed a five-year program nether which Seoul agreed to an 8.3 percent leap successful its 2026 publication to the outgo of maintaining US bases successful the state to 1.52 trillion won ($1.09bn), with aboriginal increases capped astatine 5 percent.

Yoon connected Thursday said: “We volition beryllium gathering a cleanable information posture unneurotic with the caller medication successful Washington and safeguard our state and peace.”

On Wednesday, the Federation Council of Russia, the precocious location of parliament, ratified a landmark communal defence pact with North Korea. The pact was signed successful Pyongyang connected June 19 during a authorities sojourn by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The unanimous ballot successful the precocious location formalises months of increasing information cooperation betwixt the 2 nations, the largest since the clip they were communist allies during the Cold War.

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Al Jazeera and quality agencies