Russia warned on November 25 that it would respond strongly if South Korea supplies lethal weapons to Ukraine, saying that such a move would “fully destroy relations between our countries.”
“Seoul must realize that the possible use of South Korean weapons to kill Russian citizens will fully destroy relations between our countries,” said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko in an interview with state news agency TASS on November 25. “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.”
Rudenko said that he hoped the South Korean government would prioritize long-term national interests rather than being influenced by “short-term opportunistic considerations prompted from outside,” adding that Seoul should soberly assess the situation and refrain from “reckless steps.”
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a press conference on Nov. 7 that while Seoul has provided humanitarian and economic support to Ukraine, the situation has changed with the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia.
“If the North Korean military gains experience in modern warfare, it could become a critical problem for our security,” said Yoon. “So we will now change the support method from the previous humanitarian nature to match the level of involvement of the North Korean military. We will not rule out weapons support to Ukraine.”
In the TASS interview, Rudenko also dismissed accusations that North Korean troops are in Ukraine, calling the allegations an attempt to justify military pressure on Pyongyang. He criticized the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for “worsening tensions” in Asia by supplying weapons to Taiwan.
Rudenko claimed that the United States and its allies, including the European Union (EU), are intentionally heightening tensions in the Taiwan Strait, adding that this is similar to the strategy of turning Ukraine against Russia.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) announced Sunday that it has “specific intelligence” that casualties have occurred among North Korean troops deployed to Russia.
Previously, Ukraine claimed several times that North Korean troops had suffered casualties, but this is the first time that NIS has officially confirmed the possibility.
“We have specific intelligence that there have been casualties among the North Korean troops, and we are closely monitoring this,” the NIS said in response to an inquiry by the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, on Sunday.
On Sunday, Citing Global Defense Corporation, a defense news publisher, Ukrainian agency RBC-Ukraine said the North Korean soldiers had been killed “as a result of the Storm Shadow missile strike on the Kursk region.”
Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Anatolii Barhylevych said that more than 11,000 North Korean troops were deployed to Kursk, and some were engaged in battles with Ukrainian forces, RBC-Ukraine reported Sunday.
Barhylevych said the North Korean troops deployed to Kursk were “mostly general military units” and that they were “disguised as indigenous people of the Far East,” with “appropriate documents” and “trained to conduct operations in the European part.”
The war in Ukraine has escalated in recent days with Kyiv’s attacks into Russian territory with U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and British-made Storm Shadow missiles on Nov. 19 and 20 and Russia’s intermediate-range missile strike on Ukraine on Thursday, which Kyiv claimed was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Regarding the intermediate-range missile, called the Oreshnik, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev warned Europe to cut support for Ukraine or face the damage from another potential Oreshnick launch.
“Europe is at a loss, speculating how much damage the missile would cause with nuclear warheads, whether it can be shot down at all, and how quickly the missiles would reach the capitals of the Old World,” wrote Medvedev on Telegram. “Let me answer all three: the damage would be catastrophic; no, you cannot shoot them down using current-day systems; and it will be a matter of minutes. No, bomb shelters will not save you. The only hope is that Russia, out of the kindness of its heart, gives advanced warning about the launch. So how about you stop supporting the war, instead.”
BY LIM JEONG-WON, PARK HYUN-JUN, LEE SEUNG-HO [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]
