Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, speaks during a forum hosted by Asan Institute for Policy Studies and the Brussels-based Center for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy at Asan Institute in Jongno District, Seoul, Oct. 17. Yonhap
North Korea’s alleged deployment of its soldiers to fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine, if true, may lead South Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol government to rethink its form of support for Ukraine, a U.S. expert said Thursday.
Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, made the remarks following media reports that the Russian military is organizing a special battalion that is expected to include up to 3,000 North Korean personnel amid manpower shortages.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the parliament Wednesday that his intelligence services confirmed the North’s deployment of its soldiers to Russia.
If confirmed, it will signal a major development in the military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang besides their suspected arms trade already criticized by the international community.
“I would imagine, it would make President Yoon very upset, and who knows what he’s going to do if he’s really upset?” Cha said at a forum co-hosted by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies and the Brussels-based Center for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy.
“There are calls for Korea to do more now and there may be a little bit of limitations, both domestic and legal, but don’t count the South Koreans out,” Cha said.
Cha cited the history of South Korea’s contributions that surpassed international expectations, including its deployments of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan and participation in peacekeeping missions in East Timor and Lebanon.
“It’s not out of the realm of possibility, particularly if these reports (about North Korea) are accurate,” Cha said.
South Korea has maintained its policy of providing nonlethal assistance to Ukraine, with Yoon’s recent pledge to double Seoul’s contributions to a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) trust fund for Ukraine to $24 million in 2025.
That is in addition to its contribution of $12 million to a NATO aid package for Ukraine and $100 million in humanitarian aid.
Cha assessed that the dispatch of North Korean soldiers means that the reclusive regime is “really going across the red line” as it is “pulling the Korean Peninsula into the war in Europe.”
“The South Korean government would have to think about how it could support Ukraine, whether it’s weapons, whether it’s a promise of long-term investment. I think there are ways that they can think about helping,” Cha said. (Yonhap)
