Reaction to arch enemy
Is South Korea now also sending troops to Ukraine?
Updated 10/23/2024Reading time: 3 min.
New twist in the Ukraine war? South Korea apparently plans to send both weapons and personnel to Ukraine. The background could be that arch-enemy North Korea is supporting Russia with troops.
South Korea has indicated it may supply weapons to Ukraine. This is reported by the South Korean news agency Yonhap, citing an unnamed high-ranking source from the presidential office. There were previously reports that North Korea was planning to send large numbers of troops to Ukraine to support Russia – some are said to have already arrived.
NATO and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have now confirmed the presence of North Korean soldiers in Russia. Austin said in a video published by the Washington Post that “we have evidence that there are North Korean soldiers who (…) went to Russia.”
According to the Yonhap report, South Korea is considering supplying both defensive and offensive weapons to Ukraine. Seoul is also considering sending military and intelligence personnel to Ukraine to analyze North Korean war tactics and question captured North Korean soldiers.
South Korea’s secret service said last week that North Korea had already sent around 3,000 special operations forces to Russia to fight for Russia in the war in Ukraine. Previously there had been talk of 1,500. In total, North Korea plans to send 12,000 soldiers from an elite unit.
US and NATO officials have already condemned military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, including the supply of North Korean artillery ammunition and missiles for use against Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called the development a “significant escalation.”
South Korea’s National Security Council also described North Korea’s deployment of troops as a “severe security threat” to South Korea and the international community. In a statement, he called for the “immediate withdrawal” of North Korean troops from Russia and announced unspecified “gradual countermeasures.” This warning is one of the harshest statements made by South Korea in this context.
Earlier this year, North Korea and Russia renewed their Cold War-era mutual defense pact. By sending soldiers to Ukraine, North Korea could not only gain valuable combat experience and secure financial support to bolster its struggling economy, but also lay the foundation for future joint military exercises with Russia, experts said.
There is growing concern in South Korea that North Korea could receive advanced military technology from Moscow – possibly even for its nuclear, missile or satellite programs.
These concerns may explain South Korea’s sharp reaction to North Korean involvement in the Ukraine war, said Mason Richey, a professor at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul. “South Korea probably sees that North Korea is getting something of value for sending the troops and is willing to take some risk to impose costs on Russia,” Richey said.
A decision to supply weapons to Ukraine could also be related to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s foreign policy doctrine of “peace through strength,” said Ben Engel, a political scientist at Dankook University. “They don’t seem particularly strong if they don’t react. And they are already de facto supplying weapons to Ukraine through third countries,” explained Engel. “So it would be an easy step to make this official to show strength.”
So far, South Korea has only delivered weapons to third countries such as the USA and Poland, which then pass them on to Ukraine. Officials often defend this stance by pointing to laws restricting the export of weapons to active war zones. However, South Korean President Yoon has suggested that these restrictions could be circumvented.