South Korean President Yun warns against early deployment of North Korea to Ukraine front

South Korean President Yun Seok-yol warned that North Korean troops may be deployed to the Ukrainian front sooner than expected, and stressed the seriousness of the situation to the international community.
- He spoke by phone with European Commission President von der Leyen and exchanged views on the impact that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia will have on the international order.
President Yoon said, "Russia and North Korea's illegal military cooperation fundamentally undermines the norm-based international order and threatens the stability of the Korean Peninsula.
"While we call for the immediate withdrawal of North Korean troops and an end to Russian-North Korean military cooperation, we are prepared to take proactive, step-by-step measures depending on progress in this regard," he said.
He also expressed his gratitude to the European Union for its strong condemnation of North Korea's troop deployment and its swift response in unison with South Korea.
"We look forward to strengthening our efforts to monitor and block these attacks and to working with the EU and its member states to find concrete steps to address them," he said.
"North Korea has provided lethal weapons to Russia and even sent troops," von der Leyen said.
"This means that the recognition that European and Asian security are closely linked, which was expressed at the Korea-EU summit held in Seoul in May last year, has once again been proven true," he said.
He also expressed serious concerns about North Korea's dispatch of troops to Russia, which is a blatant violation of international law and UN Security Council resolutions.
"This is a major issue that could further exacerbate the risk of war, and we are ready to actively cooperate with South Korea to address this issue," he said.
"So far, the EU has been working closely with South Korea to impose its own sanctions against Russia and North Korea," he said.
President Yoon also indicated that he would not let down his guard down and would take proactive measures to address this issue together with member countries.
He congratulated him on his appointment and expressed his hope that the strategic partnership between the EU and Korea would be further strengthened based on the strong ties between the two countries.