NATO to welcome lethal aid to Ukraine from South Korea - Stoltenberg

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (GettyImages)

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the Alliance would welcome South Korea's decision to provide lethal aid to Ukraine, citing his interview with Yonhap.

Stoltenberg said that NATO would welcome "any major support" for Ukraine from South Korea, pointing out that issues such as threats from North Korea and the war in Ukraine demonstrate that security measures are not region-specific.

"South Korea has an advanced defense industry... You have big amounts of ammunition and all the things that Ukraine needs, but of course, it's for South Korea to make those decisions," Stoltenberg said.

At the same time, the NATO Secretary General emphasized that there should be no ethical parallels drawn between North Korea's assistance to Russia and South Korea's potential assistance to Ukraine.

He pointed out that aid to Russia is illegal since Moscow violated international law by starting the war against Ukraine.

"Support to Ukraine defending themselves is legal," he said.

Backstory

After North Korea and Russia signed a mutual defense pact in the event of war, South Korea is considering the possibility of supplying weapons to Ukraine.

South Korea is one of the countries that does not directly supply weapons to Ukraine due to legislative restrictions.

However, in 2023, Seoul allowed for the expansion of aid to Kyiv if Ukraine faces a large-scale attack on its civilian population.