South Korea mulls arms for Ukraine as North Korea accused of sending troops | News about the Russia-Ukraine war

South Korea warns that talks over arms sales to Ukraine could resume if Pyongyang and Moscow continue military ties.

South Korea has pledged to take measures to counter military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, although Pyongyang has denied that it has sent troops to support Moscow's war against Ukraine.

Officials in Seoul said on Tuesday that the alliance between Russia and North Korea posed an international threat and vowed that South Korea would work with its allies to implement countermeasures, possibly including supplying weapons to Ukraine.

South Korea summoned Russia's ambassador on Monday after accusing the North of sending 1,500 soldiers to Ukraine alongside Moscow forces. North Korea has dismissed Seoul's claim as “unfounded rumors,” but Seoul brushed that aside on Tuesday and promised action.

“The deployment of troops in Russia’s illegal war of aggression in Ukraine poses a significant security threat not only to our country but also to the international community,” the National Security Council said.

“After the deployment of North Korean combat troops, the government will gradually take countermeasures,” it said.

A senior official in President Yoon Suk-yeol's office said diplomatic, economic and military measures were being prepared, adding that South Korea may reconsider its previous decision not to send weapons to Kyiv.

Seoul has faced pressure from some Western countries and Kiev to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons but has so far focused on non-lethal aid, including mine-clearing equipment.

“We would consider supplying weapons for defensive purposes under the tiered scenarios, and if it appears that they are going too far, we could also consider offensive use,” the official told reporters.

North Korea has in recent months rejected allegations from the South and the United States that it had supplied weapons to Russian forces.

Late Monday, she criticized South Korea's spy agency's claim that it had now sent special forces to Russia's Far East for training in preparation for operations in Ukraine.

“As for the so-called military cooperation with Russia, my delegation sees no need to comment on such unfounded, stereotypical rumors,” a North Korean official said at a committee meeting during the UN General Assembly.

Seoul's accusations, the official said, are aimed at “tarnishing (North Korea's) image and undermining the legitimate, friendly and cooperative relations between two sovereign states.”

Russia has not confirmed Pyongyang's troop deployment, but defended its military cooperation with the North, saying on Monday that it was “not directed against South Korea's security interests.”

Pyongyang and Moscow have been allies since North Korea's founding, and Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has brought them closer together.