South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol said last week that he planned to discuss the threat North Korea’s deepening military ties with Russia poses to NATO countries when he attended the 75th NATO Summit in Washington.
President Yoon told Reuters in an interview published on July 8 that Moscow could have to choose between North and South Korea depending on whether Russia’s true interests lie with the North.
He added that South Korea would soon decide on whether to provide military assistance to Ukraine depending on how Russia’s new agreement with North Korea plays out.
Yoon said the new mutual military alliance between Moscow and Pyongyang posed a “distinct threat” to the “peace and stability” of not only the Korean peninsula but also Europe.
South Korea, along with Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, makes up NATO’s four Asia-Pacific partners that attended the Washington Summit on July 10 and 11.
Relations between Seoul and Moscow soured after South Korea accused Pyongyang of supplying Russia with ballistic missiles and artillery for its war in Ukraine, a claim both Russia and North Korea deny.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has described South Korea as the “most friendly among unfriendly countries, has warned Seoul against supplying Ukraine with military aid, saying it would be a “big mistake.”
The South Korean government protested Putin’s visit to Pyongyang last month where he and leader Kim Jong Un signed their mutual defense agreement.
President Yoon told Reuters that North Korea has become a “menace to the international society” and said he hoped that Moscow would choose to side with South Korea, which he said would be in Russia’s best interests.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to Yoon’s remarks but noting that unlike Russia’s partner North Korea, South Korea had imposed sanctions on Russia.
President Yoon has sought to increase security ties between South Korea and Europe as a way to deter threats from North Korea.
