South Korea named the condition of supplying weapons to Ukraine

South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol said he may consider transferring weapons to Ukraine depending on the level of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea.

Yoon Seok Yeol said this during a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Seoul, Yonhap agency reports.

Yoon stressed that South Korea will not sit idly by in response to sending North Korean soldiers to Russia.

"If North Korea sends special forces to war in Ukraine, we will support Ukraine step by step and consider the possibility of taking necessary measures for the security of the Korean Peninsula," the South Korean leader said.

He also added that now Seoul does not supply lethal weapons to Ukraine. However, the country can consider this issue "more flexibly" depending on North Koreaʼs military actions.

Yun Seok Yeol spoke about the fact that Korea could transfer lethal weapons to Ukraine as early as April 2023. But he named several conditions: "a large-scale attack on civilians, a massacre or a serious violation of the laws of war." South Korea has a rich fleet of tanks, armored vehicles and artillery of its own production, as well as large reserves of ammunition.

Already in October 2024, South Korea announced that they could transfer lethal weapons to Ukraine against the background of sending North Korean soldiers to Russia.

Participation of the North Korean military in the war against Ukraine

South Koreaʼs National Intelligence Service reported that North Korea has already sent 3,000 of its troops to Russia. In general, according to South Korean intelligence, 12 thousand soldiers will be sent to Russia. The first part of the military was transported by ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet to Vladivostok on October 8-13, they were given Russian uniforms, weapons and fake Russian passports to hide their participation in the war.

Soon after that, videos about the training of North Koreans at Russian training grounds began to appear on the Internet, and Babel sources said that they are being trained in such cities as Khabarovsk, Ussuriysk, Blagoveshchensk, and Vladivostok. And on the basis of the 11th separate airborne assault brigade of the Russian Federation, a "special Buryat battalion" is being formed, staffed by citizens of the DPRK.

The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, citing a former Russian spy, wrote that the strategic partnership agreement between Russia and North Korea, which Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un signed in June, contains a secret clause. According to the agreement, the DPRK will be able to send approximately a thousand of its soldiers to Ukraine at first, and later more.

The head of the GUR, Kyrylo Budanov, says that in exchange for soldiers, North Korea receives money and nuclear technology from Russia.

For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.