South Korea tells Russia to stop getting arms from North Korea

South Korea on Friday called on Russia to halt its arms deal with North Korea following a White House announcement that North Korean ballistic missiles were used in Russian attacks against Ukraine.

A senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul said on this day that by hauling arms from North Korea, Russia was “contradicting” the United Nations Security Council resolutions despite being a permanent member.

The official said that the Foreign Ministry, together with its US counterpart, has been “closely following the military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, including the ballistic missiles trade announced by the White House recently.”

“Russia’s arms trade with North Korea poses a serious threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and beyond, and we once again call for an immediate cessation,” the official said.

The official added that South Korea, which has a seat on the UN Security Council for the next two years, would be raising the issue of the arms deals between Russia and North Korea with the international community, including the US and Japan.

The White House said earlier the same day that Russia used North Korean short-range ballistic missiles to strike Ukraine.

A day prior, on Thursday, top security officials of South Korea, Japan and the US held a virtual meeting to discuss ways to respond to the transfer of arms from North Korea to Russia.

The South Korean presidential office said Kim Tae-hyo, the deputy director of national security, spoke with Kurt Campbell, the coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs on the US national security council, and Keiichi Ichikawa, the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s North American Affairs Bureau director-general, over the matter.