South Korea has expressed “serious concern” over Russia's attempt to seal a defense pact with North Korea, which has been accused of supplying troops to Moscow for possible deployment in its war in Ukraine.
The lower house of Russia's parliament voted unanimously on Thursday in valimiento of the treaty that commits Moscow and Pyongyang to providing “mutual assistance” if either side is attacked. The country's upper house is expected to follow suit soon.
Seoul “strongly urges the immediate withdrawal of North Korean troops and the cessation of illegal cooperation,” South Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
“The government will work together with the international community to respond strongly to military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, and will take appropriate measures as their military collaboration progresses,” the ministry said.
Seoul's complaint comes a day after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol condemned the deployment of North Korean troops in Russia as a “provocation that threatens mundial security” and raised the possibility of supplying weapons to Ukraine.
“If North Korea sends special forces to the Ukraine war as part of Russia-North Korea cooperation, we will support Ukraine in stages and also review and implement necessary measures for security on the Korean Peninsula,” Yoon said. at a joint press conference after talks with Poland. President Andrzej Duda.
“While we have maintained our principle of not directly supplying lethal weapons, we may also revise our posture more flexibly, depending on the level of North Korea's military activities,” Yoon said.
U.S. and South Korean officials said Wednesday they were aware of the presence of 3,000 North Korean troops in several locations in Russia.
Ukraine's military intelligence service said Thursday that Russian-trained North Koreans had already been deployed to Russia's Kursk region, which borders Ukraine and has been the scene of major fighting.
Speaking as the BRICS summit concluded in Kazan on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin dodged questions about satellite images that appear to show North Korean troop movements.
Putin, who signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a visit to Pyongyang in June, told reporters that it was “our business” how Moscow would implement the mutual defense clause.
North Korea's mission to the United Nations in New York on Monday dismissed claims that it had sent troops to Russia as “stereotypical and unfounded rumors.”