(Bloomberg) -- Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov called for strengthening cooperation with South Korea on a trip to Seoul widely viewed as a bid to obtain weapons supplies to help Kyiv repel a Russian invasion now backed by North Korea.
A Ukrainian delegation led by Umerov met with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday and shared information on North Korean troops dispatched to Russia to help the Kremlin’s war efforts, Yoon’s office said.
“The two sides agreed to continue cooperation with like-minded countries while continuing information sharing on North Korea’s deployment to Russia and transfer of arms and technologies between the two countries,” the presidential office said in a readout from the meeting.
The delegation’s visit comes after Yoon said earlier this month that Seoul might change its policy of only sending non-lethal aid to Kyiv as a response to the Kremlin’s deployment of North Korean troops in the war.
Yoon said he hopes South Korea and Ukraine will find practical measures to counter the security threats posed by the military cooperation between President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, his office said, adding that Seoul and Kyiv will closely communicate with Washington in the process.
It was not immediately clear if Umerov asked for arms support from Seoul during the meeting.
Seoul has long resisted calls from Western partners to tap into its vast military stockpiles with direct transfers of weapons or ammunition to Ukraine, choosing instead to help Kyiv with other aid. But North Korea’s deployment of thousands of troops in Russia has shifted that stance, with Yoon saying Pyongyang’s direct involvement in the conflict poses a threat to his country’s security.
“We need a thorough military readiness as the 12,000 North Korean troops participating in the war could share their battlefield experience with over a million troops of the North’s entire military,” Yoon told military commanders earlier in the day.
After news of the North’s deployment, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he would ask for Seoul’s support in supplying artillery and air defense systems, according to broadcaster KBS.
South Korea has vast stores of the 155 millimeter artillery shells that are the North Atlantic Treaty Organization standard used by Ukraine.
Still, it’s unclear if Seoul will ultimately change the policy. South Korea has turned more cautious about the idea of direct arms aid after the election triumph of Donald Trump, who has vowed to end the war quickly without explaining how he intends to do it.
President Joe Biden has been pushing to strengthen Ukraine’s position against Russia ahead of Trump’s return to the White House in January.
Biden has reversed course, allowing Ukraine to use US-supplied ATACMS missiles to strike Russia. Ukraine has also launched UK-made Storm Shadow missiles against Russian targets.
In retaliation for Kyiv’s use of the long-range weapons to strike Russian territory, Moscow’s forces launched an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile at Dnipro. President Vladimir Putin said his forces may use the new missile in combat again. He has also lowered the threshold for using Moscow’s nuclear arsenal.
--With assistance from Volodymyr Verbianyi.
(Updates throughout with meeting results)
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