韓国、ロシア大使呼び出し 北朝鮮の援軍派兵に抗議

【ソウルＡＦＰ＝時事】韓国外務省は２１日、北朝鮮がロシアのウクライナ侵攻を支援するために数千人規模で兵士を派遣するとした決定を批判し、駐韓ロシア大使を呼び出したと発表した。韓国は北朝鮮軍の即時引き揚げを求めた。（写真は、韓国ソウル市の街頭で、北朝鮮軍によるウクライナ紛争への派兵決定に関する報道を読む男性）
　韓国の情報機関は１８日、北朝鮮の特殊部隊要員１５００人前後がすでにロシアに到着し、前線に向かう準備をしていると報告した。追加の部隊も近日中に派遣される見込み。北朝鮮のこれほど大規模な海外派兵は初となる。
　韓国は、核保有国である北朝鮮が、ロシアにウクライナで使用する武器を供給していると以前から主張しており、今回の派兵に強い懸念を表明している。
　北朝鮮の金正恩朝鮮労働党総書記とロシアのウラジーミル・プーチン大統領は今年６月、「包括的戦略パートナーシップ条約」を締結。これには一方が攻撃を受けた場合の「相互支援」条項が盛り込まれ、プーチン氏は、ロシアは「北朝鮮との軍事技術協力を排除しない」と語った。
　韓国外務省によると、金?均第１次官が、ロシアのゲオルギー・ジノビエフ駐韓大使に対し、最近の北朝鮮のロシア派兵について「重大な懸念」を表明し、北朝鮮軍の即時引き揚げと関連協力の中止を強く求めた。
　金氏は、北朝鮮がロシアにウクライナ侵攻のための武器と兵士を供給することは「韓国のみならず国際社会にとって、安全保障上の重大な脅威をもたらす」と伝え、また「そのような行動は、国連安全保障理事会の複数の決議および国連憲章に違反している」と強調した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/10/21-19:07）

South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador Monday to criticise Pyongyang's decision to send thousands of soldiers to support Moscow's war in Ukraine, the foreign ministry said, calling for their immediate withdrawal.
About 1,500 North Korean special forces soldiers are already in Russia acclimatising and likely to head to the front lines soon, Seoul's spy agency said Friday, with additional troops set to depart soon, Pyongyang's first such deployment overseas.
South Korea has long claimed the nuclear-armed North is supplying Russia with weapons for use in Ukraine, and Seoul expressed alarm over the troop deployment, which comes after Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a military deal in June.
Seoul expressed its grave concerns regarding North Korea's recent dispatch of troops to Russia and strongly urged the immediate withdrawal of North Korean forces, vice foreign minister Kim Hong-kyun told Russian ambassador Georgiy Zinoviev.
Seoul's spy agency released detailed satellite images showing the first batch of 1,500 North Korean special forces from the elite Storm Corps had arrived in Vladivostok on Russian military vessels.
The move poses a significant security threat not only to South Korea but to the international community, Kim said.
Both North Korea and Russia are under rafts of UN sanctions -- Kim Jong Un for his weapons program, and Moscow for the war in Ukraine.
The two countries' military cooperation violated Security Council resolutions, Kim Hong-kyun said.
Russian ambassador Zinovyev stressed that cooperation between Russia and North Korea... is not directed against the interests of South Korea's security, the embassy said in a statement.
NATO, which has not yet confirmed the North Korean troop deployments, said that it would mark a significant escalation in the conflict, chief Mark Rutte said Monday on X.
- North Koreans in Ukraine? -
South Korea's protest to Russia will not change anything regarding Moscow's military cooperation with the North, said Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Korean peninsula strategy at Sejong Institute.
In return for sending soldiers to help Russia in Ukraine, Kim Jong Un is aiming to acquire military technologies, ranging from surveillance satellites to submarines, he said.
The North Korean soldiers will likely soon be on Ukraine's frontlines, he said, adding it remains to be seen how much impact they will have in the course of the conflict.
Seoul's spy agency said that between October 8 and 13, North Korea transported its special forces to Russia via a Russian Navy transport ship, confirming the start of North Korea's military participation in Moscow's war in Ukraine.
The special forces now stationed in Russian bases in the Far East are expected to be deployed to the front lines (of the Ukraine conflict) as soon as they complete acclimatisation training, according to the NIS.
The NIS also said Friday that the North had provided Russia with more than 13,000 containers' worth of artillery shells, missiles, anti-tank rockets and other lethal weapons since last August.
Pyongyang and Moscow have been allies since North Korea's founding after World War II, and have drawn even closer since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky flagged intelligence reports saying North Korea was training 10,000 soldiers to support Russia in its fight against Kyiv, and said Moscow was relying on the North to make up for its substantial losses.
Ukrainian media reported earlier this month that six North Korean military officers were killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk -- which South Korea's defence minister said at the time was highly likely to be true.
South Korea, one of the world's top ten weapons exporters, has long resisted calls from its allies including Washington to supply Kyiv with weapons -- pointing to long-standing domestic policy which bars Seoul from selling weapons into active conflict zones.
It has however sold billions of dollars of tanks, howitzers, attack aircraft, and rocket launchers to Kyiv's key ally Poland, and Polish President Andrzej Duda is set to visit Seoul from Tuesday this week.