South Korea’s foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador in Seoul on Monday, the 21st of October, to protest against what it called the sending of North Korean troops to Russia for deployment in Ukraine and promised a joint international response, reports Reuters.
South Korea’s first deputy foreign minister Kim Hong-kyung summoned Russia’s top envoy in Seoul, Georgy Zinoviev, and called for the immediate withdrawal of North Korean troops from Russia, the ministry said in a statement.
Kim said North Korea’s participation in the war in Ukraine contravenes UN resolutions and the UN Charter and poses a serious threat to the security of South Korea and other countries.
“We condemn in the strongest terms North Korea’s illegal military cooperation, including sending troops to Russia,” the ministry quoted Kim as saying.
“We will respond together with the international community by mobilising all available means against actions that threaten our core security interests.”
Zinoviev told Kim that cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang is in line with international law and is not against South Korea’s security interests, according to a Facebook post by the Russian embassy.
South Korea’s spy agency said last week that North Korea had sent 1 500 special forces soldiers to the Russian Far East to take part in training and acclimatise at local military bases and that they were likely to be deployed for combat in the Ukraine war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday called on countries that have recognised North Korea’s increasing involvement in the war in Ukraine to react strongly.
“I am grateful to those leaders and representatives of countries who do not close their eyes and speak openly about this cooperation…,” he said. “We expect a normal, honest and firm response from our partners on this issue.”
On Friday, the White House National Security Council could not confirm reports that North Korean troops are fighting on Russia’s side in Ukraine, adding that if true, it is a potentially dangerous development in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
But on Monday, South Korea’s defence ministry said Seoul had consulted Washington before the spy agency’s announcement and condemned what it called North Korea’s illegal involvement in Ukraine and called for an immediate end to it.
NATO chief Mark Rutte, after a telephone conversation with South Korean President Yun Suk-kyol on Monday, told on X that if North Korea were to send troops to Ukraine to fight for Russia, it would significantly escalate the conflict.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jiang said that Beijing hoped that all sides would try to de-escalate the situation.
Both Russia and North Korea have denied arms shipments but have pledged to strengthen military ties by signing a mutual defence treaty at a summit in June.
The Kremlin has rejected South Korean claims that North Korea has sent military personnel to help Russia in its fight against Ukraine.