Putin under threat as South Korea could send shells to Ukraine

Putin under threat as South Korea could send shells to Ukraine

South Korea should be sending more artillery shells South Korea is a major producer of arms and major exporter of Munitions in the world so South Korea finally firmed up a bit and said that intimated that we we will send artillery shells and lethal weapons and Putin responded by saying that would be a grave mistake uh warning South Korea not to or else what we don’t know the Russian President Vladimir Putin has been on a tour through southeast Asia this week and while in North Korea yesterday he threatens to send weapons to the country if South Korea delivers arms to Ukraine so what will all this mean for tensions in the region let’s speak to Professor sunun Lee North Korea specialist at the woodro Wilson Center in Washington sunun hello thank you for joining the program thank you very much for having me right now what do you think has shifted this week um what do you think was achieved by Putin and un or um in their what they call fiery is a fiery relationship fiery collaboration Putin remains to this day the first and only top Soviet or Russian leader to have visited North Korea the first visit took place in 2000 and this is now it marks his second visit he’s invested quite a bit in cultivating chummy relations with the North Korean dictator both the current one and his late father Kim Jong Il meeting with both um each of them three times so this is the third Summit meeting with Kim jongan the first was in 2019 so we are living of course in a different world since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and it seems that Putin needs Kim as much as the other way around which says a lot about the State of Affairs especially Russia’s uh Prestige or lap thereof uh in the world today interesting point there because um you would wonder why Russia would be so desperate to Cozy up to North Korea which apart from its ability to build up a war machine is considered by much of the rest of the world to be um a country that cannot really feed itself or run its own economy properly that’s right uh North Korea suffered the famine it’s the first ever in world history for an industrialized urbanized literate Society in peace time to face to go through a nationwide famine the United Nations came out with a Monumental 400 page report on North Korea human rights 10 years ago in 2014 and made the very serious allegation that at the highest level of State meaning the Kim Dynasty they are guilty of knowingly causing prolonged starvation a policy of quote deliberate Mass starvation end quote so it’s a unique country but they have weapons they have one of the biggest standing armies in the world for a small nation of 25 million people and they have millions of artillery shells the South Korean defense minister the other day said he estimates North Korea has sent only almost 5 million artillery shells to Russia to be used in Ukraine that’s the source of this chimmy chummy Summit meeting with bonomi overflowing Goodwill gestures and so on some of our listeners will be gasping at that un report concluding that North Korea deliberately starved its people do we know why it’s hard to explain but I think you know keeping the people ever more dependent on the state for sustenance for livelihood for you know their lives I think that’s the the the goal and keeping them in a chronic state of fatigue malays I think the regime sees it to be in its benefit to terrorize the people like that North Korean people are the most information systematically information deprived people on Earth so they don’t really know how relatively to the rest of the world how oppressed they are and what about the response of the South Korean president yunsuk Yol um saying that um if you go ahead and um with this Mutual defense deal then we will send weapons to Ukraine because thus far South Korea has only sent non-lethal and humanitarian Aid to Kev I mean what could they send South Korea yeah South Korea has a world-class military and one of the biggest standing armies in the world today so it’s a rough neighborhood Northeast Asia you have China Russia North Korea South Korea Japan has a world class military too and then of course the US presence in both South Korea and China South Korea should be sending more artillery shells South Korea is a major producer of arms and major exporter of Munitions in the world so South Korea finally firmed up a bit and said that intimated that we we will send artillery shells and lethal weapons and Putin responded by saying that would be a grave mistake uh warning South Korea not to or else what we don’t know and when it comes to South Korea security um how imperiled do you think they must be feeling now and are they justified in feeling that um war with the north got a little bit closer well you know the US troops presence in South Korea since the Korean War days in the 1950s I think that is a major factor in deterring North Korea don’t go there don’t try another adventurous invasion of the South because that the presence of human lives Americans standing In Harm’s Way meaning that they would be among the first to be sacrificed in the case of Another War has sent a message strong message to North Korea don’t even go there don’t even think about it if you do we will March into pongyang and end you that’s been the implicit message that has held the balance prevented an active War an actual War over the past 70 years or so but South Korea is a rich democracy meaning it has a lot more to lose in the event uh there is a war and the pain threshold for dictators like Putin and Kim that’s a major strategic advantage Vis your democracy which would be shattered if you have 100,000 battle deaths so North Korea and Russia now have this fiery friendship I’m just reading a headline from one article here it says China will be watching what do you think China makes of this because at one point they signed a deal with Putin and said there is no limits to the depths of our friendship and cooperation yes and historically when North Korea inches away from China CH for instance in the mid 1960s and Co it up to Moscow the Chinese grow very displeased but you know they calm themselves down and in the end end up giving more Aid more food more investment to North Korea and coax them back North Korea back into the Chinese orbit so I would not be surprised say if Kim Jong-un showed up in Beijing you know next week or in the coming weeks it’s been five years since the last Summit meeting between the Chinese leader shiin ping and Kim jongan so the Chinese are probably thinking about inviting Kim for now all right thank you very much sun Lee North Korea specialist at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington e

“Putin responded by saying that would be a grave mistake warning South Korea not to or else.”

South Korea has “firmed up” by saying it could send ”artillery shells” and “lethal weapons” to Ukraine, says North Korea specialist Sung-Yoon Lee.

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