South Korean President: Russia’s war in Ukraine could spread to Northeast Asia

Russia’s war in Ukraine has the “potential” to fuel violence “on the Korean peninsula and in the Northeast Asia region,” said South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.

“At this point, the security of Europe and Asia is simultaneously threatened,” Yoon said Thursday in Washington, DC. “The only way to block and thwart attempts to change the status quo by force is for our allies and friends to stand together and unite in overwhelming strength. It must also be made very clear that any reckless challenge will not only result in failure, but will also lead to greater suffering on their part.”

Yoon made the call on the sidelines of the NATO summit, an annual gathering of the transatlantic alliance’s leaders that has been attended for the past three years by the leaders of South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. South Korea has become a major supplier of heavy weapons to NATO allies such as Poland and Estonia, a dynamic that has been reinforced by Russia’s growing military cooperation with North Korea.

“The missiles and artillery shells that North Korea supplies to Russia will prolong the war in Ukraine, and Russia’s possible military technology and economic support to North Korea in return threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the Northeast Asia region,” Yoon said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a mutual defense pact last month that provides for “mutual assistance in the event of aggression against any of the parties to this agreement.” But Yoon assessed that Moscow and Pyongyang were pursuing “collusion of expediency” because both countries have a common interest in weakening the United States and its allies.

“Russia wants North Korea to actively promote anti-American and anti-Western rhetoric while serving as its weapons arsenal,” he said through an interpreter during a question-and-answer session. “North Korea hopes Russia will supply it with advanced military technology and energy resources, and also help it weaken UN Security Council sanctions oversight.”

The four NATO summit participants from the Indo-Pacific region marked the occasion with a statement condemning the partnership between Putin and Kim.

“New Zealand, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Australia strongly condemn the illegal military cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which undermines peace and stability in both the Indo-Pacific and European regions,” the Quartet said on Thursday. “New Zealand, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Australia call on the Russian Federation and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to comply with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and to immediately cease all activities that violate these resolutions.”

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Increasing coordination between the Indo-Pacific and transatlantic wings of the US alliance network is a top priority for American strategists. Yoon described this trend as a natural consequence of the history of South Korea, which survived a “surprise invasion by Soviet-backed North Korea” with the support of ten NATO members.

“Ladies and gentlemen, 35 years after the end of the Cold War, we are facing new and challenging forces,” Yoon said. “They incite their own people to be hostile toward the outside world and disguise it as patriotic nationalism. Autocratic regimes maintain their power by restricting the freedom of their peaceful citizens and subjecting them to constant surveillance. The collaboration of those who advocate violent change of the status quo directly challenges the peace and prosperity that the free world has created.”