This photo, taken Oct. 18, 2023, shows Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho speaking in an interview with Yonhap News Agency and Yonhap News TV at his office in Seoul. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea has no choice but to seek “powerful” sanctions against North Korea and Russia if Moscow provides military technology to Pyongyang in return for a suspected supply of North Korean weapons to Russia, Seoul’s point man on Pyongyang has said.
The United States said last week that North Korea has delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Moscow for use in its war in Ukraine amid speculation that the Sept. 13 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin might have led to an arms deal.
In return, North Korea apparently wants Russia to transfer high-tech weapons technology, such as a military spy satellite and a nuclear-powered submarine, as it is pushing to advance its nuclear and missile programs.
South Korea believes that weapons are going to Russia from North Korea, Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho said, noting that Seoul takes military cooperation between the two nations “very seriously.”
“If Russia offers military technology to North Korea, it indicates a serious threat to South Korea’s security. Then, we cannot help but seek powerful sanctions against Russia and North Korea with the U.S. and other nations,” Kim said in a joint interview with Yonhap News Agency and Yonhap News TV on Wednesday.
Still, Kim said South Korea is not currently considering slapping unilateral sanctions against Russia over its suspected arms deal with North Korea.
Russia, one of five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC), had voted in the past for UNSC sanctions resolutions banning any weapons trade with North Korea.
North Korea has been under tightened U.N. sanctions, as well as separate U.S. sanctions, over its nuclear tests and its long-range rocket launches.
In September, South Korea imposed unilateral sanctions on a North Korean company and five individuals involved in illicit financing for weapons of mass destruction programs. It marked Seoul’s 11th unilateral sanctions measure against North Korea since May last year.
Touching on the issue of suspending the 2018 military tension reduction agreement with North Korea, Kim said the government could consider pausing the accord if Pyongyang stages “grave” provocations.
The agreement has received fresh attention as Hamas’ surprise rocket attack on Israel renewed concerns in South Korea over Seoul’s capabilities to counter a potential attack from North Korea.
The deal, signed under former liberal President Moon Jae-in, calls for setting up buffer zones along land and maritime borders, and creating no-fly zones along the border in a bid to reduce military tensions and prevent accidental clashes.
But North Korea had violated the agreement 17 times by the end of last year, and 15 violations occurred in 2022 alone, including five North Korean drones’ infiltration into the South in December.
Describing the accord as an “own goal in the security field,” Kim said it restricts South Korea’s surveillance capabilities at a time when North Korea’s military threats remain high.
“If the North stages grave provocations, we need to actively review the inter-Korean military agreement,” Kim said, adding the government will judge what provocative acts are deemed grave.
In January, President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered officials to consider the suspension of the accord if North Korea violates the South’s territory again.
The minister, meanwhile, voiced doubts over whether North Korea could make a third attempt to launch a military spy satellite soon, noting it had a short span of time to fix technical issues since its second failed attempt in August.
North Korea launched a military spy satellite, named the Malligyong-1, mounted on the Chollima-1 rocket in May and August, but both ended in failure. Pyongyang has announced it will make a third attempt in October.
This photo, taken Oct. 18, 2023, shows Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho speaking in an interview with Yonhap News Agency and Yonhap News TV at his office in Seoul. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
“It is questionable that the North could have addressed technical challenges in a short span of time to enable it to make the third attempt,” he said.
Kim forecast the number of North Korean defectors coming to South Korea will likely more than double this year from the previous year amid the reclusive regime’s border reopening.
The number of such North Korean defectors began to rise this year after sharply dwindling in recent years due mainly to Pyongyang’s tight border shutdowns over COVID-19.
The number of the North’s escapees reached 99 in the first half of the year, up nearly fivefold from 19 a year earlier. For the whole of 2022, the tally came to 67.
“If the current trend goes on, the number of incoming defectors could reach around 170 this year, rising 2.5 times from a year ago,” Kim said, also taking note of an increasing trend in elite North Koreans abroad who have defected after growing critical of their home country.
Kim made clear that the latest forced repatriation of North Korean defectors in China is an “explicit violation” of the U.N. convention against torture.
China does not recognize North Korean defectors as refugees and regularly repatriates those who are caught trying to defect to the North, where they can face harsh punishment.
Last week, the unification ministry said a “large number” of defectors appeared to have been sent back to their repressive home country, following media reports that around 600 North Korean defectors detained in the Jilin and Liaoning provinces were forcibly repatriated shortly after the end of the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
(Yonhap)
