It’s surprising that South Korea prefers for there to be more North Korean troops along the DMZ to fight against in the event that war resumes than in Ukraine and is even willing to deplete some of its gargantuan stockpiles that it’s built up to prepare for that worst-case scenario just for Kiev’s sake.
The claims that North Korea sent troops to fight Ukraine, which have been circulating for the past two weeks and were recently analyzed here, have elicited a hypocritical response from South Korea. Its Deputy Foreign Minister first summoned the Russian Ambassador to demand the immediate withdrawal of its northern neighbor’s troops. This was then followed by a senior presidential aide telling the media that Seoul might soon send defensive and possibly even offensive arms to Ukraine if they don’t leave.
The first half implies that South Korea prefers for there to be more troops to fight against in the event that war resumes than for them to be abroad fighting Ukraine, while the second implies that it’s willing to deplete its stockpiles that were gathered for use against the North in order to help Kiev. Seoul has thus far resisted pressure upon it to send shells for supplying NATO’s proxy against Russia, at least officially, but the latest claims (irrespective of their veracity) might serve to move the needle on this.
South Korea has one of the world’s largest shell stockpiles, which could perpetuate the Ukrainian Conflict by replenishing Kiev’s forces at this critical moment when Western supplies are becoming exhausted, but it’s hitherto preferred to hold onto them in case war resumes with the North. Any change in this calculation would be significant since it would suggest that South Korea no longer assesses that there’s a high risk of that possibly happening anytime soon like has been the case for decades already.
It would also imply that South Korea finally feels comfortable enough depleting some of its gargantuan stockpiles for Ukraine’s sake even though one might have thought that it would hold on to them amidst rumors that North Korea has already sent shells, missiles, and now troops to Russia. After all, everything that North Korea reportedly gives to Russia is something less that it keeps in reserve for possible use against South Korea, yet Seoul’s hypocritical response contradicts that logic.
Seeing as how its interests aren’t served by having more North Korean troops and equipment along the DMZ, this can only mean that ulterior motives are responsible, namely US pressure upon South Korea to help perpetuate the Ukrainian Conflict as it approaches what might soon become a turning point. Russia is winning the “race of logistics”/“war of attrition” by far, so much so that even CNN recently drew attention to this. There’s thus an increasingly urgent need for Ukraine to obtain South Korean shells.
Hellbound and Down 