Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, a staunch supporter of Vladimir Putin, is issuing new threats, this time to South Korea, which has announced it may extend its support to Ukraine, in addition to humanitarian and economic aid, if it is subject to a widespread civilian attack.

• “There are new ones who are ready to help our enemies. The President of South Korea, Yoon Seok-yeol, said that in principle the state is ready to supply weapons to the Kyiv regime.
• Until recently, the South Koreans enthusiastically assured that the possibility of supplying Kyiv with lethal weapons was completely excluded.
• I wonder what the residents of this country will say when they see the latest models of Russian weapons from their closest neighbors – our partners in the DPRK (DPRK)? What is called “Quid pro quo…” – Dmitry Medvedev wrote in Telegram, The Guardian reports.

Ukraine can officially receive military aid from South Korea

South Korea may expand its support to Ukraine beyond humanitarian and economic aid if it faces a large-scale attack on civilians, President Yoon Suk-yeol said, signaling for the first time a change in its stance against arming Ukraine.

In an interview with Reuters ahead of his state visit to the US next week, Yoon said the government in Seoul is looking at how it can help protect and rebuild Ukraine, just as South Korea received international aid during the 1950-53 Korean War. .

“If a situation arises that the international community cannot approve, such as any large-scale attack on civilians, a massacre or a serious violation of the laws of war, it may be difficult for us to insist on humanitarian or financial support alone,” he said. Yun said.

This is the first time Seoul has hinted at a willingness to supply weapons to Ukraine, more than a year after ruling out lethal aid.

A key U.S. ally and major producer of artillery munitions, South Korea has so far tried to avoid antagonizing Russia over its companies operating there and Moscow’s influence over North Korea, despite growing pressure from Western arms suppliers.

A nuclear war between South Korea and North Korea?

“I believe there will be no limit to the amount of support to defend and rebuild a country that has been illegally invaded, both under international and national law,” Yun said.

“However, given our relationship with the belligerents and developments on the battlefield, we will take the most appropriate measures.”

Yun will pay an official visit to the United States next week to participate in a summit with US President Joe Biden to mark the 70th anniversary of the alliance between the two countries.

During the summit, Yoon said he would seek “tangible results” in allied efforts to improve responses to emerging threats from North Korea, which last week stepped up military tests and launched its first solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile.

Seoul, for its part, will strengthen its surveillance, reconnaissance and intelligence analysis capabilities and develop “highly effective and powerful weapons” to repel North Korean threats, Yoon said.

“If a nuclear war breaks out between South Korea and North Korea, it’s probably not just a problem between the two sides, but the whole of Northeast Asia is likely to be reduced to ashes. This must be stopped,” he said.

South Korea has provided Ukraine with $100 million in humanitarian aid since the start of the war, but has so far said it will not provide lethal aid to Kyiv.

Although it officially says it does not help Ukraine militarily, South Korea has tacitly approved the transfer to Kyiv of some weapons that contain components produced in the Asian country, Reuters reported, citing an official in Seoul and one in Poland.