Monitoring Desk
SEOUL: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday asked South Korea to “step up” military support for Ukraine, suggesting it reconsider its policy of not exporting weapons to countries in conflict.
Mr Stoltenberg is in Seoul on the first leg of his Asia trip, which will also take in Japan, as part of a drive to enhance ties with the region’s democratic allies in context of the Ukraine conflict and the growing competition from China.
The NATO Chief met top South Korean officials Sunday, and on Monday Stressed upon Seoul to do more to help Kyiv, saying there was an “urgent need for more ammunition”.
The Secretary General told AFP that while South Korea and Japan were “providing significant economic assistance to Ukraine”, regional allies required to recognize that global “security is interlinked”.
If Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the ongoing war, it would “send a very dangerous message to authoritarian leaders all over the globe”, he mentioned during an interview in Seoul, with “direct consequences” for stability and security in Asia.
Stoltenberg pointed to North Korea “providing rockets and missiles to the Wagner group”, something that Pyongyang has denied angrily, with official media saying Monday that Stoltenberg’s Asia trip was taking the region “close to the extreme security crisis”.
Military Aid from South Korea
South Korea has provided non-lethal and other humanitarian aid to Kyiv, and since the invasion has signed deals to sell scores of tanks to EU, including NATO-member Poland.
However, Seoul has long-standing policies against the export of weapons to governments in active conflict, which it has said makes it difficult to provide arms directly to Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said Germany and Norway, among others, had similar policies in place that were revised after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in last February.
“If we believe in democracy, freedom and if we don’t want autocracy and tyranny to surpass then they need weapons,” he said while speaking at the Chey Institute in Seoul.
Lat year South Korea had opened its first diplomatic mission to NATO.
President Yoon Suk-yeol, who met with Stoltenberg, said the NATO chief had “expressed appreciation for Korea’s continued assistance” on the Ukraine conflict, according to a news released by Yoon’s office.
“President Yoon Suk-Yeol wrapped up the meeting by saying that he would continue to play an optimistic role in cooperation with the international community to assist the people of Ukraine,” it added.
China challenge
Stoltenberg told AFP that his visit to Seoul and Tokyo was “not about expanding NATO into the Asia-Pacific” but it was important that democratic allies cooperated even more.
He further said that regional security issues also affect Europe adding that the nuclear programs of North Korea are also a problem for NATO, because stability in this region matters for all.
“And then, of course, China, with large investments in new modern nuclear capabilities, long-range missiles, all matters for the NATO allies”, he said.
