SEOUL — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg requested South Korea on Monday to “step up” navy help for Ukraine, suggesting it rethink its coverage of not exporting weapons to nations in battle.
Stoltenberg is in Seoul on the primary leg of his Asia journey, which can even absorb Japan, as a part of a drive to spice up ties with the area’s democratic allies within the face of the Ukraine battle and rising competitors from China.
He met prime South Korean officers Sunday, and on Monday urged Seoul to do extra to assist Kyiv, saying there was an “urgent need for more ammunition.”
He instructed AFP that whereas South Korea and Japan have been “providing significant economic support to Ukraine,” regional allies wanted to acknowledge that world “security is interconnected.”
Were Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the struggle, it will “send a very dangerous message to authoritarian leaders all over the world,” he mentioned throughout an interview in Seoul, with “direct consequences” for safety and stability in Asia.
He pointed to North Korea “providing rockets and missiles to the Wagner group”—one thing that Pyongyang has angrily denied, with state media saying Monday that Stoltenberg’s Asia journey was bringing the area “close to the extreme security crisis.”
‘They want weapons’
South Korea has supplied non-lethal and humanitarian support to Kyiv, and because the invasion has signed offers to promote a whole lot of tanks to European nations, together with NATO-member Poland.
But Seoul has long-standing insurance policies in opposition to the export of weapons to governments in energetic battle, which it has mentioned makes it tough to supply arms on to Ukraine.
Stoltenberg mentioned Germany and Norway, amongst others, had comparable insurance policies in place that have been revised after Putin invaded Ukraine in February final yr.
“If we believe in freedom, democracy, if we don’t want autocracy and tyranny to win then they need weapons,” he mentioned, talking on the Chey Institute in Seoul.
South Korea opened its first diplomatic mission to NATO final yr.
President Yoon Suk-yeol, who met with Stoltenberg, mentioned the NATO chief had “expressed appreciation for Korea’s continued support” on the Ukraine battle, based on a readout launched by Yoon’s workplace.
“President Yoon wrapped up the meeting by saying that he would continue to play a possible role in cooperation with the international community to help the people of Ukraine,” it added.
China problem
Stoltenberg instructed AFP that his go to to Seoul and Tokyo was “not about expanding NATO into the Asia-Pacific” but it surely was essential that democratic allies cooperated extra.
“Cyber is a global threat, terrorism has been a global threat for many decades, space is becoming more and more contested, which is truly global,” he mentioned.
Regional safety points additionally have an effect on Europe, he added. “The nuclear programs of North Korea are also NATO’s problem, because stability in this region matters for us.”
“And then, of course, China, with heavy investments in new modern nuclear capabilities, long-range missiles, of course behavior in the South China Sea—all of this matters also for NATO allies.
“So this concept that we are able to have a type of regional safety does not apply any longer. Security is world. And that’s one thing additionally NATO has to consider.” — AFP
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
