Seoul could reconsider ties with Moscow, top diplomat warns

Chang Ho-jin, first vice foreign minister, speaks at a press conference in Seoul on Sept. 15. [NEWS1]

South Korea will have to reconsider its relations with Russia should there be a weapons deal between the Eurasian power and North Korea, a top diplomat told lawmakers Thursday.

“Any military transaction between Russia and North Korea would violate the UN Security Council resolutions, and South Korea will not stand by such a deal,” Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin said at a meeting of the National Assembly's foreign affairs committee meeting that day.

He was responding to a question from Rep. Thae Yong-ho, a conservative lawmaker and former North Korean diplomat.

Chang two days earlier had summoned the Russian ambassador to Korea to protest the recent meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia. Kim was in Russia for six days last week, inspecting warplanes and airfields, meeting with Putin and swapping guns and toasts over largely undisclosed agreements.

The vice minister said since an arms deal between Pyongyang and Moscow would constitute a “very serious violation of Security Council resolutions” and worsen the “direct threat to the security of the Korean Peninsula,” his government could not condone such a deal, warning that such a transaction would have “a significant negative impact” on Seoul-Moscow relations.

The South Korean government on Thursday levied unilateral sanctions on 10 entities connected to arms trades between North Korea, Russia and other countries.

During the committee meeting, Chang also addressed other regional matters such as Korea’s position on Japan’s release of treated radioactive water into the sea, and the potential convening of a Korea-China-Japan summit.

Korea, scheduled to take part in a meeting of members of the London Convention and Protocol framework organized by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) next month, will not be submitting any premeeting statement to the IMO regarding its position on the Fukushima discharge, according to the Foreign Ministry.

“Whether the discharge should be defined as an act of maritime dumping is a matter that will be decided by the members of the protocol and convention,” said Chang, responding to a question from Democratic Party Rep. Kim Kyung-hyup, who asked if the Korean government defined the treated radioactive water as an act of illegal dumping.

The IMO in its report in July 2022 did not say whether the Japanese decision to release the treated radioactive water from its ruined nuclear power plant in Fukushima would be considered illegal dumping according to the London Protocol and London Convention, which are international treaties to prevent marine pollution caused by the dumping of waste into the ocean.

Both Japan and Korea are members of the protocol and convention.

Japan began its release of treated radioactive water from its ruined Fukushima nuclear power plant last month, much to the protest of civic groups, the fishing industry in both Korea and Japan and Democratic Party leaders in Korea.

The Korean government at the time reiterated its position that it stands by the assessment of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which concluded that Japan’s discharge plan met international safety standards.

On the possibility of a trilateral summit between Korea, China and Japan, which hasn’t taken place for years, Chang said one could be held by the end of this year.

“There is a level of consensus among the three countries on the need to hold the trilateral summit, so at this point our discussions are more focused on when we would be able to organize the meeting,” Chang said. “We think it could be held, if not within this year, then at least by early next year.”

The last summit between the three countries was held in Chengdu, China, in 2019. A meeting of high-ranking officials from the three countries will take place in Seoul next Tuesday.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]