It looks like South Korea will not be providing any lethal military aid to Ukraine:
 |
| U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby speaks during a press conference at the Korean press center in Washington D.C., Tuesday (local time). Yonhap |
A discussion on the Ukraine war will be included on the agenda of the upcoming summit between Presidents Yoon Suk Yeol and Joe Biden, but the U.S. will not ask Korea to provide military aid to Kyiv, a high-ranking U.S. official said, Tuesday (local time).
Korea Times
“We absolutely had every expectation that the war in Ukraine will be discussed as a part of this state visit, but we certainly would not speak for President Yoon and for any additional support he may or may not be willing to provide,” U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said at a press conference with Korean press.
“Every nation has to decide for itself whether or not it will support Ukraine and to what degree it’s willing to support Ukraine. Some nations provide advanced lethal capabilities, some nations do not. We respect those sovereign decisions,” he said.
You can read more at the link.
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.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link.
It is a bit ironic that Kim Yo-jong is criticizing Zelenskiy for possibly pursuing nuclear weapons when the North Koreans know better than anyone how much they ensure regime security. If Ukraine had its own nuclear weapons deterrent the Russians would have likely never had invaded:
Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday of “gambling” with his country’s destiny by talking about developing nuclear weapons or placing U.S. nukes in Ukraine.
Kim, vice department director of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party, also accused the Ukrainian authorities of being “seized with the incurable megalomania that (they) can defeat Russia,” and “incurring a nuclear disaster threatening their existence.”
“Zelenskiy’s talk about the introduction of U.S. nuclear weapons and the independent development of nuclear weapons is a manifestation of his very dangerous political ambition to prolong his remaining days at any cost by gambling with the destiny of his country and people,” she said in an English-language statement carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
South Korea has joined with the vast majority of the world to condemn Russia’s attempted annexation of territory within Ukraine:
The South Korean government said Saturday it does not recognize Russia’s recent annexation of Ukrainian territory as legitimate while strongly condemning Moscow’s invasion of the eastern European country.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties to annex four regions in Ukraine, following referendums in the territory late last month.
“The Korean government strongly condemns Russia’s armed invasion against Ukraine as a violation of the principles of the U.N. Charter,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk said in a statement.
“The Korean government does not recognize the referenda held in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson and Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian territory as legitimate.”
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but areas that Russia is claiming in this annexation have already been liberated by Ukraine. This includes Russia’s embarrassing defeat this weekend in the logistical hub of Lyman.
I highly recommend watching the entire news clip below of Russian propagandists trying to explain the defeat of their forces in Northeast Ukraine. In the clip the propagandists also make the case that North Korea should join Russia in an anti-Imperialist coalition against the west in Ukraine. I mentioned this before that it appears that the Russian propaganda apparatus is trying to will aid from North Korea into existence.
The Kim regime may be a lot of things, but they are not stupid. They will probably happily sell munitions to the Russians, but I don’t see them sending personnel and equipment in what is increasingly looking like a lost cause. The final statement from the show doesn’t exactly inspire confidence either, “Stalin called for ones who panic to be shot”.
