NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg earlier called on the Republic of Korea to follow the example of Germany, Norway and Sweden and start supplying weapons to UkraineSEOUL, February 2.
/tass/. The Republic of Korea (ROK) continues to adhere to the principle of the impossibility of supplying lethal weapons to Ukraine. This was stated to a TASS correspondent on Thursday by the Deputy chairman of the Committee on International Affairs and Unification of the National Assembly (Parliament) from the ruling pariah Tae Yong Ho.
"I have not heard that the Republic of Korea has changed its policy. I think we adhere to the policy of refusing to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine - only humanitarian aid," Tae Yong Ho said, answering the question whether Seoul's decision on arms supplies may depend on relations between Russia and the DPRK.
"I'm not sure, but maybe it's North Korea providing military assistance to Russia. But I cannot confirm this," the deputy added. On Thursday, he held a press briefing for foreign journalists about Seoul's policy towards Pyongyang.
In December last year, the coordinator for Strategic Communications at the US National Security Council, John Kirby, made an allegation that the DPRK had transferred weapons to the Wagner PMCs. The Russian side has repeatedly stressed that it does not need foreign supplies to conduct a special military operation in Ukraine, since the country's military-industrial complex copes with its tasks. Similar reports were also denied in Pyongyang.
During his trip to Seoul, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on the Republic of Korea to follow the example of Germany, Norway and Sweden and start supplying weapons to Ukraine. According to him, the events in this country are fraught with consequences for the Korean peninsula. The Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Korea Lee Jung-sop on Tuesday, after talks with his American counterpart Lloyd Austin, when asked about the possibility of supplying weapons to Ukraine, said that Seoul was closely monitoring the situation.
Tae Yong Ho was born in the DPRK, worked as a diplomat of the People's Republic. In 2016, in the status of an adviser-envoy of the Embassy in the UK, he broke with Pyongyang and left for the Republic of Korea. In 2020, he was elected a member of Parliament from the Civic Force party. He became the first native of the DPRK in the parliament, elected by direct vote. In the fall of 2022, the ex-diplomat took the position of deputy chairman of the Committee on International Affairs and Unification.