8 months ago
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president said Thursday his authorities “won’t beryllium idle” arsenic North Korea allegedly sends troops to enactment Russia’s warfare connected Ukraine, arsenic helium met with the person of Poland to sermon expanding defence practice amid the ongoing conflict.
The gathering betwixt South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Polish President Andrzej Duda came a time aft U.S. and South Korean officials said they judge astir 3,000 North Korean troops person been deployed to Russia and are grooming astatine respective locations.
South Korea’s spy bureau told lawmakers that North Korea apt aims to nonstop a full of 10,000 troops to Russia by the extremity of the year.
Both Moscow and Pyongyang person denied the beingness of North Korean troops.
“We agreed that North Korea’s unit deployment to Russia, which is successful nonstop usurpation of the U.N. charter and U.N. Security Council resolutions, is simply a provocation that threatens planetary security,” Yoon said aft the summit.
Yoon said South Korea volition enactment with allies and partners to hole countermeasures that could beryllium rolled retired successful stages depending connected the grade of subject practice betwixt Pyongyang and Moscow.
Yoon’s bureau said earlier this week that South Korea is considering assorted diplomatic, economical and subject options, including supplying Ukraine with some antiaircraft and violative weapons systems.
South Korea, a increasing arms exporter, has provided humanitarian assistance and different non-lethal enactment to Ukraine and supported U.S.-led economical sanctions against Moscow. But Seoul hasn’t straight provided Ukraine with arms, citing a long-standing argumentation of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged successful conflict.
Tensions connected the Korean Peninsula person worsened since 2022 aft North Korean person Kim Jong Un utilized Russia’s penetration of Ukraine arsenic a distraction to accelerate the maturation of his atomic weapons and rocket program.
Seoul besides worries arsenic experts accidental the North whitethorn question large exertion transfers successful instrumentality for sending troops, including Russian know-how connected intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarines that would beforehand the menace posed by Kim’s atomic arsenal.
During their summit, Yoon and Duda agreed to “actively support” further deliveries of South Korean subject instrumentality to Poland, including a caller woody for Korean K-2 tanks the governments anticipation to finalize wrong this year, Yoon’s bureau said.
Poland has signed a bid of arms deals with South Korea successful the past 2 years to get tanks, howitzers and rocket launchers successful an effort to bolster its subject capabilities pursuing Russia’s penetration of Ukraine.
