- South Korea said it may start supplying arms to Ukraine.
- This came after Russia signed a security agreement with North Korea.
- The alliance between Russia and North Korea has increased tensions in the region.
South Korea said it may send weapons to Ukraine after Russia signed a security pact with North Korea, South Korea's biggest regional foe.
“We will reconsider the issue of arms supplies to Ukraine,” South Korea's national security adviser Jang Ho-jin told reporters late on Thursday after the Russian president signed the agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.
“Any cooperation that leads to North Korea building up its military capabilities would violate UN Security Council rules,” Chang added. “It makes no sense to commit to military cooperation assuming that there will be no preemptive attack by the international community.”
Putin this week became the first Russian leader to visit North Korea in a quarter of a century, strengthening ties with the pariah state.
The partnership saw North Korea supplying Russia with badly needed artillery for the Ukraine war, and in return, Russia reportedly provided North Korea with satellite technology.
The security pact signed by the two leaders promised to provide each other military assistance in the event of conflict, raising tensions in East Asia, where North Korea has long threatened attacks on South Korea and Japan, U.S. regional allies.
North Korea is under international sanctions aimed at curtailing its nuclear weapons program, and while Russia has maintained its commitment to complying with the sanctions on paper, critics say Russian sanctions are undermining efforts to isolate Pyongyang.
Russian diplomats in March effectively disbanded the UN committee monitoring sanctions against North Korea.
South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador over the deal on Friday, with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken denouncing the pact as a threat to regional stability and security.
During a visit to Vietnam on Friday, Putin warned that it would be a “big mistake” for South Korea to supply arms to Ukraine.
Moscow is “…” [make] “If South Korea sends weapons to Ukraine, the decision is unlikely to satisfy South Korea's current leadership,” Putin said, according to BBC News.
But he also said there was “nothing to worry about” about the new agreement as long as South Korea did not commit any acts of aggression against North Korea.
South Korea is one of the U.S. allies that has provided aid to Ukraine to fight Russian aggression, but has so far refrained from providing weapons to Kiev.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, say Russia is seeking to rebuild Cold War-era alliances to counter U.S. global power.
