Russia has issued a warning to South Korea against sending arms to Ukraine, with Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko calling on Seoul to "soberly assess the situation and refrain from reckless steps".
According to the Financial Times, South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol is considering sending arms to Ukraine in response to North Korea dispatching troops to Russia. In October, South Korea warned that they would consider this, a statement that was purported to pressure Russia against bringing North Korean troops for its war against Ukraine, something it has now done.
Newsweek has reached out to the South Korean government and the Kremlin via email for comment.
Reports out of the U.S., South Korea and Ukraine stated that more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers were sent to Russia in October, with some now actively engaged in combat on the front lines.
Rudenko said, "Seoul must realize that the possible use of South Korean weapons to kill Russian citizens will fully destroy relations between our countries. Of course, we will respond in every way that we find necessary. It is unlikely that this will strengthen the security of the Republic of Korea itself."
He added, "I hope that the administration of the Republic of Korea will be guided primarily by long-term national interests, and not by short-term opportunistic considerations prompted from outside," he added.
Back in June of this year, prior to the dispatch of North Korean soldiers into Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned South Korea that Moscow would "[make] decisions which are unlikely to please the current leadership of South Korea" if they were to supply arms to Kyiv.
Putin made these comments while speaking in Vietnam, following his visit to Pyongyang where he signed a mutual defense treaty with North Korean leader Kim Jonh Un, and both countries pledged to boost their military ties.
The Financial Times reported that Yoon, alongside other senior officials in Seoul, believed that Pyongyang's direct participation in the Russia-Ukraine war could be a threat to South Korea's security. In addition, they reportedly fear that Moscow may share sophisticated military technologies in exchange for Pyongyang's support.
North Korean troops have been deployed to the Russian frontline, a Ukrainian official said on Friday.
Andrii Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council's Center for Countering Disinformation, wrote on Telegram that some North Korean troops have moved into the Belgorod region. The Belgorod Oblast is located south of the Kursk Oblast and is directly across from the Kharkiv Oblast in Ukraine.
Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters on November 18 that it is likely that roughly 11,000 North Korean troops have entered Russia's Kursk region.
New assessments from the Institute of War (ISW) have said that Moscow's troops "recently advanced" in the area of Kursk, which is currently controlled by Ukrainian soldiers. Kyiv launched its surprise incursion into Kursk in early August. Since, Russia has struggled to counter Ukraine's biggest advance into Russian territory since the beginning of the conflict.
North Korean reinforcements are expected to head for frontline clashes soon, the U.S. has said.
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