South Korea despite not being a NATO member has become the key attendee at the NATO conference underway in Washington D.C.:
One of the most influential people attending the NATO summit in Washington leads a country that is not a member. Yet it holds vast stores of weapons sought by the bloc to help Ukraine fight off Russia, and perhaps tip the battle in Kyiv’s favor. Ukraine needs artillery shells. South Korea has millions, and there is a push to convince its President Yoon Suk Yeol to change a government policy that prohibits Seoul from sending lethal aid to countries at war. Yoon is attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit this week for the third time, but this visit is different.
Just weeks before it opened, his government said a defense pact signed between Russia and North Korea in June has made it consider whether it’s time to start sending weapons to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s forces. Zelenskyy, who has been seeking weapons from South Korea since Russia’s full-scale invasion started in 2022, will be attending the summit in Washington aimed at proving that NATO is as strong as ever in its 75th year.
He is expected to speak at a meeting of the Indo-Pacific Four partners — Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea — the Yomiuri newspaper reported, where he could again lay out his case for weapons. “The types of weapons South Korea can provide Ukraine are the ones that can make breakthroughs in the current stalemate on the front lines,” said Park Won Gon, a professor at South Korea’s Ewha Womans University specializing in international relations.
Stars and Stripes
You can read more at the link.
Hopefully everyone living on the southern tip of the Korean peninsula is keeping safe:
Heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods in the Korean Peninsula’s southern regions, Wednesday, leaving at least six people dead and two missing, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and regional fire headquarters.
Record-level downpours — up to nearly 150 millimeters in an hour — pounded the provinces of Chungcheong, Jeolla and Gyeongsang, causing casualties and property damage.
A man in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province, was found dead inside an elevator at a residential building after apparently being trapped there.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
It looks like the Korean government is starting to wobble a bit on their initiative to increase the number of medical school students to address the ongoing doctor shortage in South Korea:
The government has decided to drop all punitive measures against striking trainee doctors as it refocuses efforts on swiftly restoring the operation of medical services disrupted by their absences nationwide for months.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Monday that it shelved its plan to enforce penalties, including the suspensions of their medical licenses, on more than 12,000 trainee doctors for their refusal to comply with its order to return to work.
This would put an end to a nearly five-month standoff between the trainee doctors and the ministry, which refused to approve the resignations of those who left hospitals in protest of its decision to increase the nation’s medical school admissions quota.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link.
This just further shows what an important geostrategic, economic, and military power South Korea has become by being invited to attend a NATO summit:
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its Indo-Pacific partners, including South Korea, plan to discuss resilience, support for Ukraine, disinformation, cybersecurity and emerging technologies during their summit in Washington next week, a senior U.S. administration official said Friday.
The NATO summit is set to take place in the U.S. capital from Tuesday through Thursday. The leaders of the alliance’s four Indo-Pacific partners (IP4) — South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Japan — have been invited to the summit that marks the 75th anniversary of NATO’s founding.
“We are bringing together some of our closest non-NATO partners to have a discussion around issues like resilience, cyber, disinformation, technology and the like,” the official said in a virtual briefing.
He added, “This particular grouping of IP4 as we call them in NATO lingo — Australia, Japan, New Zealand and ROK … These are some of our closest partners that we work with in the region.” ROK stands for South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
After the U.S. Presidential debate debacle, the ROK and Japan are probably accelerating the institutionalizing of various parts of their combined cooperation:
Former U.S. President Donald Trump caused friction with both allies during his time in office by demanding greater payment for their hosting of U.S. troops while holding one-on-one meetings with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Under Biden, Washington is seeking to solidify its system of alliances, both with increasingly sophisticated exercises and diplomatic agreements, Graham said. “It’s obviously a U.S. attempt to try and mesh their alliances as positively as possible, not just given the challenge of their adversaries, but also the uncertainty around a second Trump administration,” he said. “They’re trying to institutionalize as many of these habits of cooperation while they can.” Tensions with North Korea are at their highest point in years, with the pace of Kim Jong Un’s weapons programs intensifying, despite heavy international sanctions.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
Considering how most of the fatalities from this deadly fire were foreign nationals, it is not surprising the company is being investigated for hiring illegal workers:
Police officers carry boxes confiscated from battery maker Aricell and workforce suppliers in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday, as they, together with the labor ministry, ratcheted up the investigation into a deadly fire at the company’s factory that killed 23 workers on Monday. Yonhap
The Ministry of Employment and Labor has launched an investigation into lithium battery maker Aricell over suspected illegal hiring of foreign workers after Monday’s deadly fire at its factory killed 23 employees, including 18 foreign nationals, officials said Thursday.
In particular, the ministry is looking into whether Aricell had directly imposed work orders on foreign temporary laborers hired by subcontractors, which is an illegal practice.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link.
The ROK government is still showing its unhappiness with Russia over its recent military pact with North Korea:
President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday denounced a pact signed between North Korea and Russia last week as “an anachronistic act” that goes against the progress of history and Pyongyang’s repeated provocations as “despicable and irrational.”
During his televised speech to mark the 74th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War on June 25, 1950, Yoon said the pact, which forges stronger military and economic cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, “blatantly violates the United Nations Security Council resolution” designed to contain North Korea through sanctions.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link.
That is what some in the U.S. government and think tanks believe:
The idea of South Korea developing its own nuclear weapons is resurfacing among some U.S. pundits in light of the strengthened military partnership between North Korea and Russia.
However, while local analysts describe this as highly unlikely, they are skeptical about whether the growing camaraderie between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin is significant enough to push South Korea to withdraw from its decades-long commitment to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), a move that would likely draw major international sanctions.
Allison Hooker, former senior director for Asia at the National Security Council under former U.S. President Donald Trump, suggested, Friday, that the deepening military relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang might prompt Seoul to consider pursuing its own nuclear weapons.
“I think we cannot rule out the possibility that South Korea might move more rapidly toward its own nuclear program. We need to determine how we feel about that within the U.S. and the alliance context as well,” Hooker said during a webinar hosted by the Asia Society Policy Institute.
Her remarks came a day after Republican Senator Roger Wicker called for redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea, reiterating a proposal he floated in late May.
“With our allies South Korea, Japan and Australia, we should discuss nuclear burden-sharing agreements. It’s time for them to step forward and join us in nuclear burden-sharing,” Wicker said Thursday on the Senate floor, as he spoke about the latest Kim-Putin summit.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link, but the ROK officials the Korea Times interviewed believe this talk is all a bluff by the U.S. side. This is because the ROK developing its own nuclear deterrent would decrase U.S. influence in South Korea. It is also believed it would cause a nuclear domino effect with Taiwan and Japan wanting their own nuclear deterrents as well.
This is about as close to an ultimatum to Russia that you will see from the Yoon administration:
National security adviser Chang Ho-jin said Sunday that South Korea will not be bound by anything with regard to its assistance to Ukraine if Russia provides North Korea with precision weapons.
Director of National Security Chang made the remark during a TV appearance, underscoring the point that Seoul’s decision on whether to provide weapons to Ukraine depends on how Russia’s military cooperation with North Korea goes.
“I would like to emphasize that it all depends on what Russia will do,” Chang said on KBS TV. “Will there be any line remaining for us if Russia gives precision weapons to North Korea?”
Chang’s remark means South Korea could provide lethal weapons to Ukraine if Russia crosses the line.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
