Polish President meets with South Korean counterpart

Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, has met with his South Korean counterpart on Thursday during a four-day visit to the country.

Their meeting takes place in a special context, as North Korea has apparently sent troops to Russia while it wages war in Ukraine.

Already on Wednesday, Polish and South Korean top security officials had met to discuss expanding defence cooperation between their nations, expressing concerns over growing military ties between North Korea and Russia.

Poland’s Jacek Siewiera spoke with South Korea’s National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik to review ongoing cooperation in the defence sector, agreeing to maintain communication to further strengthen their ties. South Korea recently signed a deal to purchase so-called suicide drones from Poland to counter North Korea’s rising threats.

South Korea could send weapons to Ukraine

South Korea announced on Tuesday it was considering supplying weapons to Ukraine in response to North Korea dispatching troops to Russia.

South Korean officials worry that Russia may reward North Korea by giving it sophisticated weapons technologies that can boost the North’s nuclear and missile programs that target South Korea.

In an emergency National Security Council meeting, top South Korean officials condemned North Korea’s alleged dispatch of troops as “a grave security threat” to South Korea and the international community. They described North Korea as “a criminal group” that forces its youths to serve as Russian mercenaries for an unjustifiable war, South Korea’s presidential office said in a statement.

The officials agreed to take phased countermeasures, linking the level of their responses to progress in Russian-North Korean military cooperation, according to the statement.

South Korean intelligence services were among the first to alert the world to the troop movement from North Korea to Russia.