Head of NATO calls on South Korea to increase military support for Ukraine
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, urged South Korea on Monday to step up its military support to Kiev, giving the example of other countries that changed their policy of not providing arms to countries in conflict after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Agerpres reports.
Stoltenberg has arrived in Seoul, the first stop on a trip that also includes Japan and aims to strengthen ties with US allies in the face of war in Ukraine and growing competition from China.
The NATO secretary-general has argued in meetings with senior South Korean officials that events in Europe and North America are interconnected with other regions and that the alliance wants to help manage global threats by increasing partnerships in Asia.
Speaking at the Chey Institute for Advanced Study in Seoul, he thanked South Korea for its non-lethal aid to Ukraine, but called on it to do more, saying there was an "urgent need" for ammunition.
"I urge the Republic of Korea to continue and intensify the specific issue of military support," said the North Atlantic Alliance Secretary General.
Since the war began, South Korea has signed major agreements supplying hundreds of tanks, planes and other weapons to Poland, but South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said his country's law, which bans arms supplies to countries in conflict, makes it difficult to supply arms to Ukraine.
But Stoltenberg remarked that countries such as Germany, Sweden and Norway have had similar policies but have changed them. "If we don't want autocracy and tyranny to win, then (the Ukrainians) need weapons, that's the reality," that's what he said.
The North Korean regime, in a statement released Monday, called Stoltenberg's visit a "prelude to confrontation and war as it brings the dark clouds of a 'new cold war' to the Asia-Pacific region."
