SEOUL, Sept 9 (Askume) – Germany’s top military official said on Monday during a visit to South Korea that North Korea’s arms supplies strengthen Russia’s position in Ukraine as they allow it to build up an arsenal at home.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not ask North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for arms if they are of no use, Defense Minister Gen. Karsten Bruhl said.
“This is to increase Russia’s production of weapons for aggression against Ukraine, but also to enable Russia to maintain its stockpile,” Brewer told reporters in Seoul, the South Korean capital.
Other countries, including Ukraine and the United States, and independent analysts say Kim is providing rockets and missiles to help Russia fight Ukraine in exchange for economic and other military aid from Moscow.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robert Kopke said in a speech last week that North Korea has sent at least 16,500 containers of ammunition and related materials to Russia since September last year and that Russia has launched more than 65 missiles at targets in Ukraine.
Moscow and Pyongyang reject direct arms transfers that would violate UN sanctions.
Asked whether he had pressured South Korea to provide weapons directly to Ukraine, Breuer said he agreed with Ukraine that air defense equipment, infantry fighting vehicles and other weapons would be in the United States and would play a role in any country’s war.
South Korea has provided non-lethal equipment and assistance, but has said it has no intention of providing weapons unless Russian cooperation with North Korea crosses unspecified red lines.
“We have told North Korea that their security cooperation with Russia will have a direct impact on our security situation,” said German Ambassador to South Korea Georg Schmidt.
During Brauer’s visit to South Korea, he visited two German warships that stopped in South Korea before transiting the South China Sea and landing in Manila.
The general declined to confirm whether the ships would pass through the disputed Taiwan Strait, which would be the first visit by a German warship in more than two decades.
China claims sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan and says it has rights to the waterway, which is about 180 kilometers (110 miles) wide.
Taiwan disputes China’s sovereignty claims and says only its people can determine their own future.
