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North Korea and Russia’s deepening ties prompt South Korea to reconsider ban on supplying weapons to Ukraine
Seoul — Major weapons exporter South Korea will “reconsider” a longstanding policy that bars it from supplying arms directly to Ukraine, a presidential official said Thursday, after North Korea and Russia signed a defense deal. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was in Pyongyang Wednesday for a high-profile state visit that underscored his growing ties with leader Kim Jong Un, as the two signed a “breakthrough” agreement that included a pledge to come to each other’s aid if attacked.
Hours later, Seoul said it was “planning to reconsider the issue of providing weapons support to Ukraine,” a presidential official told reporters.
Seoul has a longstanding policy that bars it from selling weapons into active conflict zones, which it has stuck to despite calls from Washington and Kyiv to reconsider.
The country, which is aiming to become one of the world’s top arms exporters, has signed billions of dollars of deals to sell its tanks and howitzers to European countries, including Kyiv’s ally Poland.
Seoul expressed its “grave concern” over the Moscow-Pyongyang agreement, where the two countries agreed to strengthen their military and economic cooperation, including immediate military assistance if either faced armed aggression.
“Any cooperation that directly or indirectly helps strengthen North Korea’s military capabilities is a violation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions,” national security adviser Chang Ho-jin told reporters. “Russia’s own violation of the resolution and support for North Korea will inevitably have a negative impact on the South Korea-Russia relationship.”
Putin said in Pyongyang that Russia “does not rule out military-technical cooperation” with the North, which would violate rafts of U.N. sanctions on Kim’s regime over his banned nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
North Korea and Russia have been allies since North Korea’s founding after World War II and have drawn even closer since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as Western powers have stepped up sanctions against Moscow.
CBS News senior foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer said that while the pact signed Wednesday in Pyongyang saw Putin and Kim pledge to defend the other if attacked, officials in the U.S. and other Western capitals believe Russia, above all, wants to ensure a steady supply of North Korean weapons for its war in Ukraine. Concern has grown for months, however, over a tacit arms arrangement in which North Korea provides Russia with munitions in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers, which politicians and experts fear could enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.
GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP/Getty
Pyongyang has described allegations of supplying weapons to Russia as “absurd,” but the new treaty between the North and Moscow has fueled concerns of increased weapons deliveries.
North Korea thanked Russia for using its U.N. veto in March to effectively end monitoring of sanctions violations, just as U.N. experts were starting to probe alleged arms transfers.
During the state visit, Kim called Putin the “dearest friend of the Korean people” and said his country “expresses full support and solidarity to the Russian government” over the war in Ukraine.
Putin also said that the U.N. sanctions against the North — which began in 2006 over the country’s banned nuclear programs — should be reviewed.
Seoul said Thursday it will slap additional unilateral sanctions against a number of Russian and North Korean parties over arms shipments and oil transfers between the two countries.
Any future weapons support from Seoul to Ukraine would need to “involve a clear level of moderation,” Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, told AFP.
“If the support is limited to conventional weapons such as artillery shells and landmines, similar to the level of support North Korea is providing to Russia, the backlash from Russia could be minimized,” he added.
Simone Biles is heading back to the Olympics and the white-hot spotlight that comes with it.
The gymnastics superstar earned a third trip to her sport’s biggest stage by cruising to victory at the U.S. Olympic trials on Sunday night, posting a two-day all-around total of 117.225 to clinch the lone automatic spot on the five-woman team.
Three years removed from the Tokyo Olympics — where she pulled out of multiple finals to prioritize her safety and mental health — Biles heads back to the games looking perhaps as good as ever.
“Trusting the process and (my coaches), I knew I’d be back,” Biles said.
A trip to France has never really been in doubt since she returned from a two-year break last summer. All she’s done over the last 12 months is win a sixth world all-around title and her eighth and ninth national championship — both records — while further cementing her status as the best-ever in her sport.
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She’ll head to Paris as a prohibitive favorite to bookend the Olympic gold she won in 2016, but with things to work on, too.
Biles backpedaled after landing her Yurchenko double pike vault, a testament to both the vault’s difficulty and the immense power she generates during a skill few male gymnasts try and even fewer land as cleanly.
She hopped off the beam after failing to land her side aerial, though she wasn’t quite as frustrated as she was during a sloppy performance on Friday that left her uttering an expletive for all the world to see.
Biles finished with a flourish on floor exercise, her signature event. Though there was a small step out of bounds, there was also the unmatched world-class tumbling that recently drew a shoutout from pop star Taylor Swift, whose song “Ready For It” opens Biles’ routine.
She stepped off the podium to a standing ovation, then sat down atop the steps to take in the moment in what could be her last competitive round on American soil for quite a while.
Next stop, Paris.
The Americans will be loaded with experience as they try to return to the top of the podium after finishing second to Russia in 2020.
Reigning Olympic champion Sunisa Lee, 2020 Olympic floor exercise champion Jade Carey and 2020 Olympic silver medalist Jordan Chiles and Hezley Rivera all made the final roster for Team USA. Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong will travel to Paris as alternates.
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Yet the Biles that will step onto the floor at Bercy Arena for Olympic qualifying in four weeks isn’t the same one that left Tokyo.
She’s taken intentional steps to make sure her life is no longer defined by her gymnastics. Biles married Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens in the spring of 2023 and the two are building a house in the northern Houston suburbs they hope to move into shortly after Biles returns from Paris.
Biles heads to France as perhaps the face of the U.S. Olympic movement, though she’s well aware that more than a few of the millions that will tune in to watch next month will be checking to see if the demons that derailed her in Tokyo resurface.
And while there are still moments of anxiety — including at last year’s world championships — she has put safeguards in place to protect herself. She meets with a therapist weekly, even during competition season, something she didn’t do in preparation for the 2020 games.
Biles, Lee, Carey, Chiles and Rivera will be considered heavy favorites in France, particularly with defending Olympic champion Russia unable to compete as part of the fallout from the war in Ukraine.
The Americans will take their oldest women’s team ever to the games, as Biles’ unrivaled longevity — she hasn’t lost a meet she’s started and finished since 2013 — and the easing of rules around name, image and likeness rules at the NCAA level allowed 2020 Olympic veterans Carey, Chiles and Lee to continue to compete while cashing in on their newfound fame at the same time.
They have relied on that experience to get back to this moment during a sometimes harrowing meet that saw leading contenders Shilese Jones, Skye Blakely and Kayla DiCello exit with leg injuries that took them out of the mix weeks before opening ceremonies.
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