The ROK should be selling their advanced weaponry to Ukraine as a major export to help drive the Korean economy. With Poland and Romania buying ROK equipment as well, Ukraine would have allies next door with compatible capabilities:
South Korean National Security Adviser Chang Ho-jin issues a statement on a treaty signed between North Korea and Russia this week during a press briefing at the presidential office on June 20, 2024. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
The South Korean government said Thursday it will reconsider its stance on arms supply to Ukraine after North Korea and Russia signed a treaty that involves a mutual pledge to provide immediate military assistance if one of them is attacked.
National Security Advisor Chang Ho-jin also condemned “the comprehensive strategic treaty” signed during the summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang on Wednesday. (…..)
Chang said any cooperation that directly or indirectly aids North Korea’s military enhancement is a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and will be subject to international scrutiny and sanctions, and vowed to take corresponding measures.
“We plan to reconsider the issue of arms support to Ukraine,” Chang also said, suggesting a shift in South Korea’s policy of not providing lethal aid to Ukraine.
It looks like South Korea is back on Putin’s good graces again:
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he highly appreciates South Korea’s position not to directly supply weapons to Ukraine, and that Moscow is ready to restore relations with Seoul.
Putin made the remark during a meeting with representatives of leading international news agencies, including Yonhap News Agency, which was held on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The remark drew attention in that Putin, who began his fifth term as president last month, showed a positive attitude toward South Korea and openly talked about the possibility of improving relations with Seoul.
Considering the reported weapons deal between Russia and North Korea the fact that the Russian military is using cheaply made North Korean missiles should not be a suprise:
A man photographs parts of an unidentified missile, which Ukrainian authorities believe to be made in North Korea and was used in a strike in Kharkiv earlier this week, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Jan. 6. Reuters-Yonhap
The Kharkiv region prosecutor’s office provided further evidence on Saturday that Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles supplied by North Korea, showcasing the fragments.
A senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Russia hit Ukraine this week with missiles supplied by North Korea for the first time during its invasion.
Dmytro Chubenko, spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office, said the missile, one of several that hit the city of Kharkiv on Jan. 2, was visually and technically different from Russian models.
“The production method is not very modern. There are deviations from standard Iskander missiles, which we previously saw during strikes on Kharkiv. This missile is similar to one of the North Korean missiles,” Chubenko told media as he displayed the remnants.
Hopefully the amount of artillery shells shipped from the ROK has not dangerously depleted their own reserves used in response to any contingency with North Korea:
South Korea’s “indirect” provision of 155-mm artillery shells for Ukraine this year has made it a larger supplier of ammunition for the war-ravaged country than all European countries combined, The Washington Post (WP) reported Monday.
In an article on Russia’s protracted war against Ukraine, the U.S. daily explained Washington’s effort to secure munitions from South Korea when the U.S.’ production of shells was barely more than a tenth of some 90,000 shells that Ukraine needed per month.
South Korean law prohibits providing weapons to war zones, but U.S. officials sought to persuade Seoul to provide munitions, estimating that about 330,000 155-mm shells could be transferred by air and sea within 41 days from Korea, according to the WP.
Here is how the Russians moved all the arms they received from North Korea into Russia for further movement to the battlefields of Ukraine:
This image, provided by the U.S. government, shows apparent arms transfers between North Korea and Russia. (Yonhap)
Two Russian ships made at least five round trips between North Korea and Russia, beginning mid-August, in what could be arms transfers, the Washington Post reported Monday, citing satellite imagery.
Based on analysis by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a London-based think tank, the ships have been travelling between the northeastern North Korean port of Najin and a port facility in Dunay in Russia’s Far East between mid-August and Saturday.
The analysis came after the U.S. government revealed Friday that the North shipped more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia in recent weeks for use in Ukraine, highlighting burgeoning military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.
"Desperate for munitions for the war in Ukraine, the U.S. and Russia have turned to their allies in South and North Korea, which kept stockpiling arms for decades after their own conflict." @nytimeshttps://t.co/8Shh8OgLEK
South Korea continues to increase its military engagement with Ukraine by providing some much needed mine clearing vehicles:
Fortunately for Ukraine, South Korean firm Hyundai produces a similar breaching vehicle: the K600. And Seoul just pledged two of the 62-ton vehicles to Kyiv. South Korea will deliver the K600s “as soon as possible,” a government source told Chosun.
Hyundai makes a two-person K600 by removing the turret from a K1 tank—a South Korean variant of the American M-1—and adding a plow, an articulated excavator arm and a device for safely triggering magnetic mines.
The K600 is compatible with two dozer blades, both made by Pearson. A wedge-shape blade works best for digging up and shoving aside buried mines. A straight blade works better for generic engineering tasks: filling in trenches, digging revetments, et cetera.
Hyundai delivered the first K600s to the South Korean army in 2020. The South Korean and Ukrainian governments began discussing a K600 transfer back in May; the South Koreans finally approved the deal this month. There’s one caveat. The Ukrainians must deploy the vehicles only in “humanitarian” roles.
The caveat is meaningless. Arguably any mineclearing operation—even one that occurs while the engineers are under enemy fire—is humanitarian.
