The former Russian president and a close ally of Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, warned Seoul that Moscow would provide Kim Jong Un with cutting-edge weapons if South Korea decided to arm Ukraine.
What Happened: President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday, in an interview ahead of a visit to Washington next week, said Seoul would consider arming Kyiv in the event of a major new attack against Ukraine.
Responding to Yoon's comments, the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Medvedev, in a Telegram post, said, “I wonder what the inhabitants of this country [South Korea] will say when they see the latest designs of Russian weapons in the hands of their closest neighbors – our partners from the DPRK [North Korea]?”
See Also: Kim Jong Un’s Missile Launches Defended By Russia, China At UN As US-South Korea Drills Get Rapped
The Kremlin also slammed the South Korean president for taking a “rather unfriendly position in this whole story.”
In a briefing, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “They (Ukraine) will try to draw more and more countries directly into this conflict. But of course, the start of arms deliveries will obliquely mean a certain stage of involvement in this conflict.”
See Also: Russians Fleeing Putin’s Military Mobilization Sail To South Korea, Most Denied Entry
Why It Matters: Although Seoul has provided economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and condemned Putin's invasion, it has refrained from sending weapons, unlike the U.S. and its European allies.
President Yoon's administration stated that his comments during the interview did not indicate a change in government policy, the Yonhap news agency reported.
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