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South Korea says North Korean soldiers are being trained by Russia to fight in Ukraine.
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The Kremlin said cooperation between the two was “within the framework of international law.”
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Russia is worried that South Korea will send weapons to help Ukraine, according to a US think tank.
The Kremlin’s alliance with North Korea may strengthen its campaign in Ukraine, but the cost may be serious.
South Korea’s government this week signaled anger over the growing alliance between the two countries.
In a meeting with Russian ambassador Georgiy Zinoviev, South Korea demanded the withdrawal of North Korean soldiers trained by Russia to fight in Ukraine.
Yoon Suk Yeol, a senior official in South Korea’s presidential office, said on Tuesday that South Korea is now considering sending weapons to help Ukrainian forces.
In response, the Kremlin appears eager to reassure South Korea. Zinoviev said that the alliance between Russia and North Korea “is within the framework of international law.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the North Korea-Russia alliance “shouldn’t worry anyone.” He also dismissed reports of the troop deployment as “contradictory.”
Earlier in the day South Korea had put pressure on the Kremlin, releasing satellite images showing 1,500 North Korean military personnel being sent to Russia.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, said the Kremlin appeared worried about a reaction from Seoul.
“The Kremlin’s desire to assure South Korea that cooperation with North Korea does not pose a threat to Seoul shows that the Kremlin remains concerned about the prospect of Seoul’s potential pivot to provide much-needed military support to Ukraine, and the implications of worsening relations with Seoul for Russia’s security interests in the region Asia Pacific,” analysts wrote on Monday.
Russia’s new dangerous alliance
For decades, South Korea has been uneasy with its isolated and authoritarian neighbor, North Korea.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has repeatedly threatened the South with the prospect of an attack, while Seoul and its ally, the US, seek to isolate North Korea and curb its nuclear weapons program.
But the Russian invasion of Ukraine has shaken the precarious balance of power in East Asia.
Russia is forming a new military alliance with North Korea to secure the ammunition it needs from North Korean stockpiles for its failed campaign in Ukraine.
South Korea is increasingly worried about the technological capabilities and security assurances North Korea may be getting from Russia.
Russia, a former supporter of sanctions designed to curtail North Korea’s nuclear program, is now helping North Korea evade it.
Analysts from Bloomberg said in June that the war on the Korean peninsula could cost millions of human lives, and cost the global economy about $4 trillion.
South Korea is a center for semiconductor and electronics manufacturing, meaning any economic disruption could have far-reaching global effects.
“The Ukraine war and its spillover to the Korean peninsula are taking a hard toll on Seoul-Moscow relations,” wrote analyst Ellen Kim of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in February.
Noting that “several factors could push ROK-Russia (South Korea-Russia) relations off the brink.”
South Korea says it can support Ukraine
In response to Russia’s strengthened ties with North Korea, South Korea threatened to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian invasion.
Russia’s new defense pact with North Korea in June is seen as a tipping point, with South Korea saying it could lift a long-standing ban on sending military aid to countries at war to help Ukraine.
It is a threat South Korea reiterated Tuesday, as officials from the National Security Council of South Korea warned that the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia is a “serious security threat.”
It’s a worrying prospect for Russia, with South Korea holding vast stockpiles of weapons that could help tip the war in Kyiv’s favor.
South Korea has a large number of 155 millimeter cannons, Ukraine’s weapons are already in short supply and Western allies have struggled to produce enough of them.
The New York Times in 2023 reported that President Joe Biden had pressured South Korea to help Ukraine with much-needed shells, but South Korea was hesitant at the time.
But in response to the latest escalation in North Korea’s collaboration with Russia, South Korea has again hinted that nothing is off the table as it considers how to respond.
South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong Kyun said in a statement on Friday that the country will respond with “all available means in cooperation with the international community to any action that threatens South Korea’s core interests.”
Read the original article on Business Insider
