Cho Tae-yeol on 'Deployment of North Korean Troops': "We Cannot Just Stand By"

National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee Audit, Rebuttal to Opposition's Criticism
"How Can North Korea Have No Interests When Helping Russia"

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol stated regarding North Korea's deployment of troops to the Russian battlefield, "Ultimately, this will return as a threat to our security, so we cannot just sit idly by."

At the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee's comprehensive audit on the 24th, Minister Cho rebutted the remark by Lee Yong-seon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, who said, "The Ukraine war has no direct interest to South Korea," by saying, "How can you say there is no interest when North Korea is helping Russia? The deployment is not happening without a price."

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol is responding to a lawmaker's question at the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee's comprehensive audit held at the National Assembly on the 24th.

Minister Cho also responded to Lee's question, "Could the government's mention of the possibility of providing offensive weapons to Ukraine be considered as participation in the war?" by calling it a "logical leap" and explaining, "It is necessary to express a strong response policy and willingness to take measures to urge withdrawal and suppress additional troop deployments."

Regarding the mention of arms support to Ukraine, he said, "It is a message that all options are on the table," and explained, "What we will do depends on how Russia responds, what North Korea receives, and to what extent North Korea supports Russia, all of which depend on every detailed development."

When asked by Kim Tae-ho of the People Power Party whether North Korea's troop deployment crossed the government's red line, Minister Cho refrained from publicly disclosing the exact point of the red line setting, saying it is not a good strategy.

Regarding speculation that China may have tolerated North Korea's troop deployment, he said, "China was probably excluded from this process," and added, "There is a big difference between what China expresses externally and what it is secretly considering."