SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's president on Thursday hinted at the possibility of Ukraine supplying weapons while stressing that his government “will not remain idle” as North Korea accuses it of sending troops to support Russia's aggression against its neighbor.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol spoke to reporters after a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda that came a day after U.S. and South Korean officials said they believed about 3,000 North Korean troops had been sent to Russia and were training in multiple locations. South Korea's intelligence agency has told lawmakers that North Korea may be aiming to send a total of 10,000 troops to Russia by the end of the year.
Yoon and Duda's meeting focused on increasing defense cooperation between the countries amid ongoing conflicts. Poland has signed a series of arms deals with South Korea over the past two years to acquire tanks, howitzers and anti-missile launchers in a bid to bolster its military capabilities following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow and Pyongyang have denied the presence of North Korean troops.
Yoon said South Korea will work with allies and partners to prepare steps that could be taken in stages depending on the level of military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.
Seoul's moves could include sending weapons to Ukraine, which would mean a departure from a long-standing policy of not providing weapons to countries embroiled in conflict, Yoon said. He said the allegations that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia are “motivations that threaten the security of the world beyond the Korean Peninsula and Europe.”
“If North Korea sends special forces to the war in Ukraine as part of Russia-North Korea cooperation, we will support Ukraine in stages and review and implement the necessary security measures on the Korean Peninsula,” Yoon said during a joint press conference with Duda. .
“While we have maintained our policy of not directly supplying lethal weapons, we may also review our position flexibly, depending on the level of North Korea's military activities,” Yoon said.
Yoon's comments are consistent with what a senior presidential official told reporters on condition of anonymity earlier this week. The official said South Korea is considering various political, economic and military options, including providing Ukraine with both defensive and offensive weapons systems.
South Korea, a booming arms manufacturer, has provided humanitarian aid and other non-lethal support to Ukraine and joined US-led economic sanctions against Moscow. It has so far rejected calls by Kyiv and NATO to directly supply Ukraine with weapons.
At their meeting, Yoon and Duda agreed to “actively support” more deliveries of South Korean military weapons to Poland, including a new deal for Korean K-2 tanks that the governments hope to finalize this year, Yoon's office said.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been at their worst since 2022 after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un used Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a distraction to accelerate the development of its nuclear weapons and missile program.
Seoul is also worried as experts say the North may seek major technology transfers to replace the military, including Russian expertise in intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarines that could further the threat posed by Kim's nuclear weapons.
Experts say it remains unclear how well the North Korean military would fare in battle, given its lack of practical experience on the battlefield, outdated conventional weapons and experience training with Russian forces. Kim could see the military deployment as an important opportunity to expose his troops to modern warfare and technology, said Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul's Korea Institute for National Unification.
During a parliamentary hearing, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun said North Korean troops could become “cannon fodder” when deployed to fight in Ukraine and criticized Pyongyang's leadership for “selling out its troops for illegal aggression.”
“The deployment of troops is just a phrase, and it would be more appropriate to call them troops,” he said. “The North Koreans disguise themselves in Russian uniforms and operate under Russian control without operational independence, following orders.”
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