The Russians and Chinese are showing they are unhappy with trilateral security cooperation between the U.S., Japan, and ROK:
Four Chinese and four Russian military planes entered South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) without notice Tuesday, Seoul’s military said, prompting the South Korean Air Force to send its fighter jets to the scene.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that between 11:52 a.m. and 1:49 p.m., the Chinese and Russian aircraft entered the southern and eastern parts of the KADIZ, respectively, and exited it. They did not violate South Korea’s air space, it added.
“Our military identified the Chinese and Russian planes before their entry into the KADIZ and deployed Air Force fighters to conduct tactical steps in preparation against potential accidental situations,” the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.
Russian diplomats in N.K. Officials from the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang, including, Ambassador Alexandr Matsegora, offer flowers at the Liberation Tower honoring the former Soviet war dead in the North’s capital on May 9, 2023, on the occasion of the anniversary of Russia’s victory in World War II, in this photo released by the North’s Korean Central News Agency on May 11. (Yonhap)
The Kremlin is threatening to send advanced weapons to North Korea if the ROK sends arms to Ukraine:
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during an interview with Reuters at the presidential office in Seoul, Tuesday. (Yonhap)
Any decision by South Korea to supply arms to Ukraine would make Seoul a participant in the conflict, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, after President Yoon Suk Yeol opened the door to such deliveries.
South Korea has denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and supplied economic and humanitarian aid to Kyiv, but unlike the United States and European allies has so far stopped short of sending weapons. (…..)
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin who frequently makes hawkish comments on Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, suggested Moscow could respond by supplying advanced weaponry to North Korea.
“I wonder what the inhabitants of this country (South Korea) will say when they see the latest designs of Russian weapons in the hands of their closest neighbors – our partners from the DPRK?” Medvedev said in a post on Telegram, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Rally for Russian troops’ withdrawal from Ukraine Protesters hold up banners demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, in Seoul on Feb. 25, 2023, a day after the one-year mark since the start of Moscow’s invasion of the neighboring country. (Yonhap)
It will be interesting to see if this ruling leads to more Russian men trying to seek asylum in South Korea:
A lawyer with the Advocates for Public Interest Law (APIL), the legal representative of two Russian men who filed a complaint calling on the immigration authority to nullify its non-referral decision on their refugee applications, speaks during a press conference held after a court ruling at Incheon District Court, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Lee Hyo-jin
A local court on Tuesday ordered the Incheon Immigration Office to review refugee applications submitted by two Russian men who landed in Incheon International Airport last year after fleeing the military draft in their home country.
The Incheon District Court ruled in favor of the Russian men who filed complaints against the immigration authority, but dismissed a complaint filed by another man who was in a similar situation.
The judge did not give a detailed explanation about the ruling during the hearing, saying that a detailed verdict will be issued later.
There are two more Russian men ― college student Vladimir Maraktaev and former football player Dzhashar Khubiev ― who are still stuck inside the airport waiting for their next hearing scheduled for late February.
John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, is seen speaking during a daily press briefing at the White House in Washington on Jan. 20, 2023 in this captured image. (Yonhap)
North Korea continues to provide ammunition to Russia in support of Moscow’s unprovoked war against Ukraine, a White House official said Friday, calling it a clear violation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions on Pyongyang.
John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, said the U.S. has shared its intelligence on the delivery of North Korean ammunition to Russia with the UNSC Panel of Experts on North Korea sanctions.
The NSC official earlier said the North has delivered ammunition to a private Russian military company, the Wagner Group, for use in Ukraine.
You can read more at the link, but by transferring the ammunition to the Wagner Group it allows North Korea and Russia to claim that ammunition is not being transferred between the two governments when in fact it is.
The Russians continue to make themselves look like clowns:
Deputy head of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev attends an interview at Gorki state residence outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, Aug. 26, 2022. (Ekaterina Shtukina/Sputnik, Kremlin pool photo)
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and a senior security official in President Vladimir Putin’s administration, said Saturday that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida should perform a ritualistic suicide by disembowelment to repent for what Medvedev called servitude to the United States.
Medvedev’s remarks were in response to a joint statement Friday by President Joe Biden and Kishida, in which the leaders said that “any use of a nuclear weapon by Russia in Ukraine would be an act of hostility against humanity and unjustifiable in any way.”
Russian military leaders have discussed the potential use of a tactical nuclear weapon should their invasion of Ukraine face more setbacks.
At least these Russian men found a good airport to be stranded in:
Dzhashar Khubiev speaks during an interview with The Korea Times in the departures hall at Incheon International Airport, Jan. 3. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
“I left home the night of Sept. 24, a few hours after I received the conscription notice. I decided to leave as soon as possible because they might come to get me in the morning,” he said during a recent interview with The Korea Times at the airport.
“I find it nothing to be ashamed of to defend my country. I would volunteer (to fight) if someone attacks us and put my loved ones in danger,” said Maraktaev, adding that he already completed the compulsory one-year of military service in 2019. “But it’s a totally different story when my own country is the aggressor. I will never take weapons to go and kill innocent people in Ukraine.”
That night, Maraktaev jumped into a car with others in the neighborhood who were also called up to join the army. They crossed the border to Mongolia and drove further to the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. From there, Maraktaev took a flight to Manila in the Philippines, where he was able to stay for several weeks.
He then bought a plane ticket to Incheon and landed on Korean soil on Nov. 12, expecting the country to be a haven from war.
Here is the reason he decided to flee to South Korea:
“Although I don’t have any connections with South Korea, I knew that it is a very developed country in terms of democracy and civil rights,” he said, when asked why he specifically chose to flee to Korea. “The news that a former (Korean) president was sentenced to prison for corruption crimes blew my mind. We could never imagine a leader facing trial in Russia.”
He is one of five Russian men currently stuck at the airport who currently going through asylum proceedings. According to the article it is not looking positive to have their asylum cases approved.
