[INTERVIEW] Korea and NATO increasingly face common security challenges, says Czech envoy

Jakub Landovsky, permanent representative of Czechia to NATO, speaks with the Korea JoongAng Daily at the Four Seasons Seoul on Wednesday. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Be it in cyber warfare or battles on the ground, Korea is now a crucial partner for NATO, said Jakub Landovsky, permanent representative of Czechia to NATO in Seoul on Wednesday.

“If it weren't for Article Six of the North Atlantic Treaty, Korea would qualify in a very good manner as a future member of NATO,” said Landovsky, adding that Korea’s defense capabilities and industry are increasingly valued by NATO members, especially in light of evolving North Korean missile and space technology and Russia's continued invasion of Ukraine.

Although the Korean government has maintained its official position that it is not supporting Ukraine with lethal weapons against Russia, recent reports have highlighted how much South Korean artillery is making its way to Ukraine via the United States.

“So it's not only greatly appreciated, but I think it will be needed in the future,” said the envoy, conveying what he said were many NATO members’ collective gratitude for Korea’s support for Ukraine.

Landovsky was in Korea this week with seven other ambassadors to NATO, including the U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith, meeting with the defense minister of Korea and visiting the Joint Security Area of the demilitarized zone of the two Koreas.

The delegation's visit is the first of its kind to Korea, with many more possibly to come as the list of security challenges shared between NATO and Korea continues to lengthen, said the envoy.

“There are certain domains like the domain of cyber capabilities and also the domain of space capabilities in which the distances are different from in the physical space,” he said, alluding to the North’s recent spy satellite launch.

Escalating security tensions in the Korean Peninsula in recent months, highlighted by the two Koreas walking back their military agreement of 2018 in which they committed to reduce border tensions, have even led to discussions of a NATO-like security apparatus in the Indo-Pacific between a group of lawmakers in Washington.

“It will be the action of allies,” Landovsky said in response to a question about whether NATO members would contribute forces should North Korea decide to invade South Korea again. The 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, began with the North Korean invasion on June 25, 1950, with the front line descending as far south as a pocket around Busan, a southern port city.

“Of course, it will depend on practical matters such as the ability to send our forces to fulfill the UN resolution that safeguards the peace and also the armistice on the Peninsula,” said the envoy.

Briefed by U.S. Forces Korea commanding officers about the security situation on the Peninsula earlier on Wednesday, Landovsky added that there is no doubt that “the ROK-U. S. arrangement is ready to fight from the day one of any aggression.”

NATO’s cooperation with its Asia Pacific partners (AP4) has grown visibly in recent years, especially with the leaders of these four nations — Korea, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia — joining NATO summits.

Some experts have, however, raised concerns about Korea’s growing cooperation with NATO, also marked by its creation of a diplomatic mission to NATO in November 2022, citing the potential impact on Seoul’s relationship with Beijing.

In their meeting in Brussels in 2021, NATO leaders voiced their concerns about China's “systemic challenges” to the rules-based international order and NATO security.

“China is definitely coming toward the NATO space that is obvious in the Baltics and elsewhere in the high north, and China’s rise to power is, of course, a challenge to the world stability,” he said. “But for certain topics, like climate change, we need to engage with China. They can help dissuade Russia in their war of aggression in Ukraine.”

Landovsky, with decades of experience in foreign policy and security affairs, including as a former deputy minister of defense of Czechia, recalled a time when NATO members would work with Russia to fight a common enemy, such as their concerted efforts in the war against terror in Afghanistan.

“But this time is long gone,” he said, adding that if the world were entering another era of Cold War, as some analysts have put it, he would hope for it to be “cold, not hot.”

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