South Korea May Send Weapons to Ukraine in Response to Russia-North Korea Treaty

The National Security Advisor to the President of South Korea stated that the country will consider sending weapons to Ukraine to assist it against Russia's military aggression. This policy shift was announced on Thursday, June 21, just hours after the North Korean state media published the text of the strategic agreement between Moscow and Pyongyang. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin reacted by calling South Korea's decision to send arms to Ukraine a 'big mistake.' North Korean state media described the agreement between Moscow and Pyongyang as the strongest cooperation between the two countries since the end of the Cold War, highlighting the 'full support' of the North Korean leader for Moscow in the Ukraine war. According to the text of the agreement, in the event of occupation or if either country goes to war, the other party is obliged to 'quickly mobilize all its resources to provide military assistance and other aid.' The agreement also states that such actions must be carried out in accordance with the laws of both countries and Article 51 of the UN Charter, which recognizes the right of every member state to self-defense. Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, who signed the agreement in Pyongyang on Wednesday, June 20, described it as a symbol of the significant expansion of relations between the two sides in security, investment, cultural, and people-to-people exchanges. The South Korean presidential office condemned the agreement, describing it as a threat to South Korean security and a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, warning that this agreement would negatively affect relations between Seoul and Moscow. Part of the statement reads: 'It is ridiculous that two countries with a history of aggressive wars, including the Korean War and the war in Ukraine, are now promising military cooperation to prevent an international community attack that will never happen.' The South Korean Foreign Minister, in an interview during his visit to the UN headquarters in New York, described the agreement as 'shameful' and added that Moscow is violating the Security Council resolutions regarding North Korea that it has voted in favor of. South Korea, one of the top ten arms-exporting countries in the world, has so far only sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine and supported US and Western sanctions against Russia. However, based on its longstanding policy of avoiding arms sales to countries at war, it has not provided military assistance to Ukraine. The US and other Western powers have long warned about the potential for arms shipments from North Korea to Russia, particularly artillery shells, in exchange for technical assistance from Moscow that could advance North Korea's missile and nuclear programs. The North Korean leader declared his full support for Russia's war in Ukraine during a meeting with Vladimir Putin, who described the strategic agreement between the two countries as a 'historic document' reflecting their desire to enhance bilateral cooperation. The history of agreements between the two countries dates back to the Korean Peninsula war. In 1961, the Soviet Union and North Korea signed a pact that, according to experts, laid the groundwork for Moscow's military intervention if North Korea were attacked. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, this pact became practically meaningless, and the two countries signed another agreement in 2000, under which Moscow undertook weaker security guarantees. Experts have different interpretations of the recent strategic agreement. Some see it as a replacement for the 1961 security agreement between the Soviet Union and North Korea, while others believe that this agreement is more symbolic.