NATO chief asks S Korea to ‘step up’ military support for Ukraine

Jens Stoltenberg suggests Seoul rethink its coverage of barring weapons exports to nations in battle.

Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary-general of NATO, has urged South Korea to “step up” army help for Ukraine, citing different governments which have modified their insurance policies on exporting weapons to nations in battle following the Russian invasion.

Stoltenberg made the enchantment within the South Korean capital, Seoul, on Monday.

He’s within the metropolis on the primary leg of an Asia journey that will even embody stops in Japan and is aimed toward boosting ties with the area’s democratic allies within the face of the warfare in Ukraine and rising competitors with China.

In conferences with senior South Korean officers, Stoltenberg argued that occasions in Europe and North America are interconnected with different areas, and that the alliance desires to assist handle international threats by rising partnerships in Asia.

Talking on the Chey Institute for Superior Research in Seoul, he thanked South Korea for its nonlethal help to Ukraine however urged it to do extra, including there was an “pressing want” for ammunition. Russia calls the invasion a “particular operation”.

He pointed to nations like Germany and Norway that had “longstanding insurance policies to not export weapons to nations in battle” that had been revised after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February final 12 months.

“If we imagine in freedom, democracy, if we don’t need autocracy and totalitarian to win then they want weapons,” he mentioned.

South Korea is an more and more essential international arms exporter and has just lately signed offers to promote lots of of tanks to European nations, together with NATO-member Poland. However South Korean regulation bans the export of weapons to nations in energetic battle, which Seoul has mentioned makes it tough to offer arms on to Kyiv.

South Korea opened its first diplomatic mission to NATO final 12 months.

Stoltenberg mentioned it was unclear when the battle in Ukraine would finish, saying Putin was getting ready for “extra warfare” and actively buying weapons from nations, together with North Korea.

In a press release carried by state media on Monday, North Korea referred to as Stoltenberg’s go to a “prelude to confrontation and warfare because it brings the darkish clouds of a ‘new Chilly Warfare’ to the Asia-Pacific area”.

Pyongyang on Sunday denied sending weapons to Moscow, accusing america of spreading a “groundless rumor”.

“Attempting to tarnish the picture of [North Korea] by fabricating a non-existent factor is a grave provocation that may by no means be allowed and that can’t however set off its response,” mentioned Kwon Jong Gun, director basic of North Korea’s Division of US Affairs.

He additionally referred to as it “a silly try and justify its supply of weapons to Ukraine”.

Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden promised 31 Abrams tanks, one of the highly effective and complicated weapons within the US military, to assist Kyiv combat off Moscow’s invasion.