South Korean Parliament Warns President Sending Arms To Ukraine Risks War With Kim Jong Un

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is weighing directly providing arms to Ukraine, amid the ongoing reports that North Korea has sent some 10,000 troops to Russia, readying them to fight against the Ukrainian military.

FT has noted of the decision in a fresh report that “Seoul has previously resisted entreaties from western allies to draw on its vast stockpiles of military armaments, preferring to contribute to Kyiv’s war effort through non-lethal aid.” 

Seoul’s “answer” to the north might indeed be to weaponize the other side, by providing badly needed 155mm artillery shells to Ukraine. So far this has only allegedly been done indirectly, by routing the shells to the United States. According to more from FT:

Yoon has vowed not to “sit idle” in response to the North Korean deployment. His office confirmed this week that Seoul intended to send a delegation to Ukraine to monitor the North Korean forces, following a call on Tuesday between Yoon and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

But this has been consistently opposed by South Korea’s left opposition, which maintains a parliamentary majority.

Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the Democratic party, declared days ago that “[Arming Ukraine] is an incredibly dangerous idea that treats people’s lives like pawns in a game of chess.”

Yoon “shouldn’t engage South Korea in a proxy war with North Korea . . . in a faraway land,” continued Park. He warned that escalating Seoul’s involvement in any way would “risk starting a military conflict on the Korean peninsula.”

A defense source has pointed out that if Seoul decided to supply Ukraine with artillery shells, significant legal and bureaucratic hurdles would remain in the way:

South Korea’s Defense Procurement Act and Foreign Trade Act currently prohibit the transfer of arms and ammunition to Ukraine, either directly or through third parties. Both laws would need to be amended for the delivery of 155mm shells to be possible.

This development marks another chapter in South Korea’s internal debate on whether to support Ukraine militarily, which was first discussed in July 2023 and again in April 2022. However, despite this consideration, the likelihood of an immediate shift remains unclear as Ukraine continues to await the delivery of K600 mine-clearing tanks, which South Korea had previously pledged.

Zelensky has of late been advancing the idea that the ‘enemies’ of the West have formed an axis to fight in Ukraine and ultimately push back NATO. He’s identified them as Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

So far, the Western alliance is also resisting Ukraine’s demands to greenlight long-range missile strikes deep into Russian territory. Putin has warned that this would cross all ‘red lines’ and unleash major escalation.