Photo : YONHAP News
President Yoon Suk Yeol says a combat deployment of North Korean troops could come “sooner than expected” in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The presidential office in Seoul said that Yoon held telephone talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday and shared his assessment of the current situation.
While sharing information on North Korea’s troop deployment with the European Commission chief, Yoon said that his government will take measures in phases to respond correspondingly to the military collaboration between Russia and North Korea.
While urging North Korea to immediately withdraw its troops, Yoon argued that the military cooperation between the two countries fundamentally undermines the rules-based international order and poses a threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula and the world.
The South Korean president said last week that his goverment could consider providing deadly weapons to Kyiv.
Seoul has so far limited its assistance to Ukraine to sending humanitarian assistance and non-lethal weapons while providing 155 mm artilery shells through the U.S.