South Korea may start supplying weapons to Ukraine after Putin creates a 'strategic' alliance with the DPRK.

The Republic of Korea is going to return to the issue of direct deliveries of lethal weapons to Ukraine, employees of the South Korean president's office told Yonhap.

The change in Seoul's position is associated with the 'Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership' between russia and the DPRK, which was signed by Putin and Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang.

In particular, Seoul was concerned about the paragraph of the document in which the parties guaranteed each other immediate military and other assistance in the event of an armed attack on one of the parties. South Korea saw this as the formation of a military alliance between Pyongyang and Moscow.

At the same time, Seoul warned Moscow that Russia during Putin's visit to the DPRK "should not cross certain borders," said Jang Ho-jin, National Security Adviser to the President of South Korea.

The military aid clause in the new treaty almost literally repeats the text of the 1961 Soviet-North Korean agreement, said Fyodor Tertitsky, a leading researcher at Kunmin University in Seoul. "From the point of view of Seoul, what has happened now is very bad. The possible resuscitation of such an alliance agreement was discussed both here and in Tokyo as the worst-case scenario."

So far, South Korea has not supplied lethal weapons to Ukraine directly. Back in early May, President of the Republic Yoon Suk-yeol said that he intends to continue to adhere to this position.

However, South Korean weapons entered Ukraine through intermediaries. In particular, before the counteroffensive of the AFU in 2023, Seoul delivered more than 300.000 155-mm artillery shells to Kyiv by sea and air in just 41 days. This allowed Ukraine to launch 7.000 shells per day, against the 5.000 used by russian forces. South Korea also participates in ring arms exchange schemes and actively helps Poland and other countries replace Soviet weapons.

Source

@freerussia_report