South Korea’s SEOUL (AP) As the two nations strengthen their cooperation over Russia’s war in Ukraine, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov traveled to North Korea on Friday for discussions with North Korean political and military leaders.
Russia’s Defense Ministry did not specify who Belousov will meet or the goal of the discussions when it announced the visit. The visit was not immediately confirmed by North Korean state media.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin began his fifth term in office in May, Belousov, a professional economist, took Sergei Shoigu’s place as defense minister.
Belousov walked the red carpet with North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol at an airport in Pyongyang, according to photos made public by the Defense Ministry. Under a banner that read, “Complete support and solidarity with the fighting Russian army and people,” North Korean military officers were observed applauding.
Following his arrival, Belousov stated that the nations’ military cooperation is growing. He praised a strategic partnership deal that Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed during their June summit in Pyongyang. He said the deal aims to lessen tensions by preserving the region’s power balance and lowering the likelihood of war, even one involving nuclear weapons.
In this photo taken from a video released by Russian Defense Ministry press service, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, right on the red carpet, is welcomed by North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol, left on the red carpet, upon his arrival at Pyongyang International Airport outside of Pyongyang, North Korea Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (Russian Defense Press Service via AP)
ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
According to Belousov, the June summit showed the leaders’ highest degree of mutual confidence as well as our nations’ shared determination to further their mutually beneficial collaboration in a challenging global setting.
North Korean Defense Minister No also affirmed North Korea’s support for Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, calling it a righteous fight to defend the nation’s security interests and sovereign rights, and he applauded the growing military cooperation between the two nations.
Yoon Suk Yeol, the president of South Korea, met with a Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in Seoul a few days prior to the visit. During their meeting, Yeol called on the two nations to develop countermeasures in response to North Korea sending thousands of troops to Russia to aid in its war against Ukraine.
As he seeks to overcome his isolation and bolster his international standing, Kim has made relations with Russia a top priority in recent months, welcoming the notion of a new Cold War.
According to the United States and its allies, North Korea has dispatched over 10,000 personnel to Russia in recent weeks, some of whom were fighting.
Additionally, North Korea has been charged with providing Russia with artillery systems, missiles, and other military hardware that might enable Putin to prolong the conflict, which has lasted for nearly three years. Seoul is also worried that North Korea would obtain technical transfers from Russia that could advance its nuclear weapons and missile programs in return for its soldiers and munitions supplies.
According to Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Seoul’s Ewha University, the Russian defense minister doesn’t travel to North Korea merely to commemorate bilateral relations. This visit suggests that there may soon be more military collaboration between Putin and Kim that violates international law.
In a TV interview last week, Shin Wonsik, Yoon’s national security adviser, stated that Seoul thinks Russia has given North Korea air defense missile systems in return for sending troops.
According to Shin, Russia also seems to have provided North Korea with military technology and financial support, including those required for the North’s endeavors to establish a dependable space-based surveillance system, which Kim has emphasized is essential for boosting the threat of nuclear-capable missiles directed at South Korea. Shin omitted to mention whether Russia has already given North Korea access to ballistic missile and key nuclear weapons technology.
In his discussions with Umerov, Yoon’s administration has not stated if the two nations brought up the prospect of South Korea providing Ukraine with weapons.
South Korea has backed Kyiv financially and humanitarianly since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and joined U.S.-led sanctions on Moscow. However, citing a long-standing policy of avoiding providing lethal weapons to nations actively involved in conflicts, it has refrained from directly sending weaponry.
According to Yoon, his administration will implement countermeasures in stages, tying the intensity of its response to the level of cooperation between North Korea and Russia.
Whether Belousov would meet with North Korean leader Kim was not immediately known. In what outside observers compared to a sales pitch, Kim conducted a personal tour of a North Korean armaments show to a Russian delegation headed by then-Defense Minister Shoigu last year.
That incident occurred weeks before Kim visited Russia for negotiations with Putin, which accelerated the two nations’ military collaboration. In what was seen as the two nations’ largest defense agreement since the end of the Cold War, Kim and Putin inked a contract in June of this year in Pyongyang that stipulates mutual military aid in the event that either country is attacked.
According to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Russian report regarding Belousov’s visit was released as South Korea rushed fighter jets to fend off six Russian and five Chinese warplanes that had momentarily entered the nation’s air defense identification zone surrounding its eastern and southern oceans. It claimed that South Korea’s territorial airspace was not violated by the Chinese and Russian aircraft.
According to South Korea’s Defense Ministry, it called defense attachés from China and Russia who were stationed in Seoul to express disapproval of the flights and to encourage them to stop future occurrences. ___ This report was written by Emma Burrows of the Associated Press in London.
The Associated Press, 2024. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. It is prohibited to publish, broadcast, rewrite, or redistribute this content without authorization.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!