South Korea has a sovereign right to send weapons to Ukraine if it should so choose, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol maintained in the face of a new threat from Russia.
“This is a matter of our sovereignty,” the South Korean president told reporters Friday. “We are making efforts to have peaceful and sound relations with all countries in the world, including Russia.”
Yoon emphasized that the South Koreans “have not provided any lethal weapons” to Ukraine, although he touted his government’s “humanitarian and peaceful support to Ukraine.” Yet Russian officials believe that Seoul “has decided” to open its arsenal for the international effort to arm Ukraine to repel the Russian invasion, according to the Kremlin.
“Right now, we know that the Republic of Korea has decided to supply weapons and arms to Ukraine,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday at the Valdai Discussion Club. “This is going to destroy our relations.”
RUSSIA OFFERS TO STOP ATTACKING ELECTRIC GRID IN EXCHANGE FOR UKRAINIAN
Putin’s complaint may be an encouraging sign for Ukraine and its Western backers despite South Korea’s denial that it is sending weapons to the Ukrainians. “That shows that they are worried,” a senior European official in Kyiv said in reference to the Russians. “The good news is their intelligence really, sometimes, also is correct as well.”
Putin implied that the weapons would be delivered “through Poland,” although to the contemporaneous interpreter. He aired that complaint just days after South Korean defense companies announced the first deliveries of tanks and howitzers to Poland.
“Poland, which is suffering a vacuum in its military force following its military aid to Ukraine, will be able to fill the vacuum as fast as possible through its deal with us,” an official for Hanwha Defense, a South Korean company, said last week during a ceremonial unveiling of two dozen K-9 howitzers destined for Poland.
Those howitzers, as well as the 10 Hyundai K-2 main battle tanks that were unveiled at a parallel event, represent the leading edge of a major arms deal package between Seoul and Warsaw. Polish authorities have opted to purchase 1,000 of the K-2 tanks, a total of 672 howitzers, and even 48 FA-50 light fighter jets.
“The Korean weapons system was the most attractive in terms of technology, price, and timing,” Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said in July.
Those purchases will help with the replacement of the legacy Soviet tanks and other weaponry that Poland has provided to Ukraine since Putin launched his campaign to overthrow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February. They also represent a defense industrial landmark as a key U.S. ally in the Indo-Pacific region emerges as a major supplier of weaponry to a member of NATO, the U.S.-led transatlantic alliance.
“We’ve worked with dozens of countries, some 50 countries around the world, to provide security assistance to Ukraine — but also to hold Russia accountable through sanctions, export controls, and other economic and financial measures,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Friday. “Our message has been to underline the importance of this support, both for the signal it sends, the practical impact it has, both on Ukraine’s ability to resist Russian aggression and to inhibit Russia’s own ability to wage this aggression.”
Putin, in his remarks Thursday, paired his accusation that South Korea is sending weapons to Ukraine with a threat to increase ties with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
“What would the Republic of Korea think if we resumed our military cooperation with the DPRK?” he said, using the acronym for the Kim regime. “Would you be happy? I would like you to think about that.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Russia has begun to obtain weapons from North Korea in order to replenish its arsenal of rockets and artillery, according to the U.S. Defense Department.
Yoon’s team reiterated that South Korea has not sent weapons to Ukraine. “Our stance remains the same that we have not provided nonhumanitarian aid or lethal weapons to Ukraine,” a Yoon spokesman told the Korea Times. “However, Yoon’s comment on the sovereignty means that whatever type of support we provide to Ukraine, it is our decision.”
