South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol plans to raise an unusual topic at the NATO summit in Washington D.C.: the threat North Korea poses to Europe. Despite South Korea not being a NATO member, Yoon intends to highlight the risk posed by North Korea’s military cooperation with Russia, particularly in light of recent agreements between Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin. Yoon’s unprecedented move underscores growing concerns about North Korea’s potential impact beyond Asia, potentially affecting global security dynamics. His stance also hints at South Korea’s strategic efforts to strengthen ties with Europe amidst geopolitical tensions involving Russia, North Korea, and Ukraine.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has stated that he will attend NATO’s annual summit in Washington D.C. this week and will discuss a security issue that is unique for the organization.
He intends to offer information on North Korea’s ‘unique threat’ to Europe at a time when leaders Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin are strengthening ties, notably in terms of defense cooperation.
“Military co-operation between Russia and North Korea poses a distinct threat and grave challenge to the peace and security on the Korean peninsula and in Europe,” Yoon was quoted as saying by Reuters. Last month, during a rare visit to Pyongyang, Putin and Kim inked a treaty pledging mutual military aid.
Of course, South Korea is not a NATO member, and Pyongyang’s danger to the Western military alliance is rarely discussed.
President Yoon became the first South Korean leader to attend a NATO meeting in 2022. NATO’s four Asia-Pacific allies, including Australia, Japan, and New Zealand, will attend this week’s conference.
Yoon stated in his comments that potential fresh military help for Ukraine “depends entirely” on the future health of Russia-South Korea relations. South Korea has been debating whether to supply weapons to Ukraine, and Yoon stated that the decision would be determined by how the latest military agreement between Moscow and Pyongyang plays out.
“North Korea is clearly a menace to the international society,” Yoon continued. “I hope that Russia will sensibly decide which side – the South or the North – is more important and necessary for its own interests.”
Already, there have been numerous claims that the North has sent hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to Russian soldiers. Analysts think that while the outright dispatch of troops is improbable, it is still possible:
As of now, the prospect of North Korean soldiers being deployed to Ukraine is speculative and unlikely, experts told Business Insider.
But if it did happen, the main advantage Russia would take from it would be North Korea’s sheer number of soldiers — not their effectiveness, they said.
“North Korea has a large military of 1.3 million,” Edward Howell, Korea Foundation Fellow with Chatham House’s Asia-Pacific Programme, told BI.
“Yet, the quality of North Korean conventional weapons, arms, and the soldiers themselves is far weaker,” he said.
Yoon has been working to strengthen connections with Europe to put more pressure on Kim and isolate North Korea and is now focusing on the Ukraine conflict to make its point.
When asked about future relations with Washington during a probable Trump presidency, he said, “The alliance will stay strong going forward.”
Last year, GreatGameIndia reported that Yoo Sang-bum, a politician from South Korea, stated that the National Intelligence Service of South Korea had informed them that North Korea supplied Russia with one million artillery shells.
One Response
This is fake news…entire world knows South Korea is a vassal of US and no decision is made by South Korea without the stamp of US, just as Japan and also Germany..so these secret reports are not so secret..in real sense but a narrative to see how they can plunder people of Europe in the name of North Korea after plundering the western citizens in the name of Putin and Russia, China and Iran….