South Korea summoned Russian ambassador to Seoul on Monday to demand withdrawal ” immediate “ soldiers sent, according to Seoul, by Pyongygang to support Moscow in its war against Ukraine, announced the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov, announced the Russian intention to “continue cooperation” with North Korea, while ensuring that this alliance “shouldn’t worry anyone” because she is not “not directed against third countries”.
“North Korea is our close neighbor and partner. We develop relationships in all areas and this is our sovereign right”he told journalists, refusing to make any direct comment on North Korean troops in Russia.
But British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, visiting Seoul on Monday, called« reckless » and“illegal” Russia’s actions, adding that London would work with Seoul to respond, according to the South Korean presidential office.
Some 1,500 North Korean special forces troops are already in Russia acclimatizing and are expected to head to the front soon, South Korea’s intelligence agency said on Friday, expecting some 12,000 to be sent. soldiers in total.
In its report, the South Korean National Intelligence Service also published detailed satellite images showing, according to it, the first deployment of these soldiers.
Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun expressed to Russian Ambassador to South Korea Georgui Zinoviev the “serious concerns” from Seoul “regarding the recent dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia and strongly demanded the immediate withdrawal of North Korean forces and a cessation of cooperation in this area”the ministry said in a statement.
North Korea’s supply of weapons and troops to Russia for the war in Ukraine “poses a significant threat to the security of not only South Korea, but also the international community”he added.
The deputy minister also “stressed that such actions violated numerous UN Security Council resolutions and the UN Charter”.
Georgui Zinoviev replied that “cooperation between Russia and North Korea (was) not directed against the security interests of South Korea”according to a press release from its embassy.
“Significant escalation”
While relations between Pyongyang and Seoul are at their lowest point in decades, nuclear-armed North Korea has moved even closer to Russia, an ally of the North Korean regime since its creation after the Second World War. worldwide.
South Korea and the United States have long claimed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sends weapons used in Ukraine to Russia.
A deployment of troops “would mark a significant escalation” in the conflict in Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on X on Monday.
In exchange for sending soldiers to help Russia in Ukraine, “Kim Jong Un aims to acquire military technologies, ranging from surveillance satellites to submarines”underlines Cheong Seong-chang, director of strategy for the Korean peninsula at the Sejong Institute.
North Korean soldiers will likely soon be fighting on the Ukrainian front, he added, indicating that“it remains to be seen what impact they will have on the course of the conflict”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Pyongyang in June, during which the two countries signed a mutual defense treaty whose details have not been released, fueling speculation about further arms transfers – which violate the series of sanctions taken by the UN against Russia and North Korea.
For its part, South Korea, one of the main arms exporters in the world, has long refused to deliver arms to Ukraine, applying its policy of not delivering arms to countries in conflict.
But it has sold billions of dollars worth of weapons (tanks, planes, rocket launchers) to Poland, whose President Andrzej Duda is expected in Seoul for a visit from Tuesday.
