“They are crushing countries”: why NATO called on South Korea to provide military assistance to Ukraine

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on South Korea to change its position and provide military assistance to Ukraine.

He stated this during a speech at the CHEY Institute for Advanced Study during a visit to Seoul.

“As for the question of specific military support - here I would say that the final decision is yours (South Korea.

).

However, I will note that some NATO allies who had a policy of never exporting weapons to countries in conflict have now changed this policy: Germany, Sweden (which is not part of NATO, but is a close partner of the alliance), my own country - Norway,” Stoltenberg said.

According to him, these Western states have transformed their course after the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.

“Because they understood ... if you really believe in freedom, in democracy and do not want autocracy and tyranny to win, then they (Ukraine. -

) need weapons.

This is the reality,” Stoltenberg said.

NATO Secretary General met in Seoul with South Korean President Yoon Sok-yeol, who promised Stoltenberg to continue to provide assistance to Kyiv.

What kind of support we are talking about, is not reported.

“President Yoon said that, in cooperation with the international community, he will continue to perform all possible functions to help the Ukrainian people,” said Kim Eun-hye, a senior press secretary for the President of South Korea.

Seoul has so far refused to supply Kyiv with lethal weapons, as this is prohibited by the country's legislation.

"More Weapons"

Recall, on January 20, the NATO Secretary General took part in a meeting of the US-led contact group for the defense of Ukraine at the Ramstein base (Germany).

As Stoltenberg stressed, it is urgent to continue to build up military support for Kyiv in order for Ukraine to win.

“Like most wars, this one will most likely end at the negotiating table,” said the head of the alliance, “but what happens at the negotiations is directly related to what happens on the battlefield, so we already need to supply Ukraine with more weapons."

Stoltenberg thanked Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin for the US leadership in providing significant amounts of military assistance to Ukraine.

He welcomed recent announcements by other NATO members, including Germany, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands and France, of further arms tranches to Kyiv, including air defenses, infantry fighting vehicles and armored vehicles.

The bloc's general secretary also positively assessed the readiness of Great Britain, France and Poland to supply heavy and light battle tanks, urging allies and partners to follow suit.

Stoltenberg stressed the need to supply Kyiv with ammunition and spare parts, carry out maintenance and training.

These calls by Stoltenberg came after concerns in the United States and Europe about the lack of weapons to replenish the army's arsenals due to supplies to Ukraine.

In early January, Stoltenberg himself acknowledged that aid to Kyiv had depleted NATO and the EU military stocks.

However, he called it "the right decision."

According to the Secretary General of the bloc, since it is a question of security, the states of the alliance "should turn" to their stocks and ammunition "to help Kyiv."

Concerns were later voiced in the United States that the US Navy might soon have to make a choice between providing military support to Ukraine or equipping its own units.

This thesis was appreciated by US Secretary of the Navy Carlos del Toro, confirming that continuing to supply weapons to Kyiv for another six months or a year could create difficulties for Washington, since "the supply chain will definitely continue to experience stress."

In turn, the head of the command of the US Navy, Admiral Daryl Caudle, expressed dissatisfaction with the delays in the supply of weapons by American companies.

“This is about military action, national security and confronting a rival, a potential adversary unlike anything we have seen before, and we continue to delay these deliveries,” he said.

“I don’t see proper accountability and I don’t see a good return on the funds invested by the state.”

"To solve your problems"

As RISS expert Sergey Ermakov noted in an interview with RT, Stoltenberg, with his statement addressed to South Korea, actually admits that the NATO leadership eventually "crushes countries" that at first were not ready to provide military assistance to Kyiv, but then could not resist the colossal pressure from the alliance.

“Essentially, the US-led bloc is actively engaging the allies they are looking for around the world in the process of pumping up Ukraine with weapons to solve their problems, based on their own geopolitical interests,” the analyst said.

Ermakov believes that South Korea will not rush to follow the call of the NATO Secretary General.

“I don’t think that Seoul will readily rush to do what Stoltenberg asked.

The South Korean authorities will try to dodge: not directly refuse the alliance, but also try to refrain from supplying weapons.

Seoul is concerned about the situation in the region, including the activity of North Korea.

This is a serious factor that South Korean politicians cannot ignore, ”the expert believes.

Yermakov also explained the need to resort to the help of allies outside of NATO by the lack of weapons from the countries of the alliance after massive supplies to Kyiv.

• Meeting of the US-led contact group on the defense of Ukraine at the Ramstein base (Germany), January 20, 2023

• AP

• © Michael Probst

“As for the really inevitable problems with stockpiles of weapons, yes, of course, they exist, which is why NATO is trying to activate its allies and partners.

In the EU, the arsenals are practically exhausted, a certain lack of stocks that can be supplied to third countries is also noted in the United States.

And the pressure from Washington on the allies in this regard, of course, will only increase through NATO, ”the analyst predicted.

Victoria Fedosova, deputy director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, took a similar position.

According to her, Stoltenberg is trying to "scrape the bottom of the barrel" against the backdrop of how the supply of weapons from the Western Hemisphere "goes with a creak."

“Including countries from the other side of the planet in real military support for Ukraine is rather an image step that blurs the priority role of the US and NATO in the conflict.

It must show the alternative positions outside the West.

It is unlikely that they will be able to get significant military support from South Korea, but they will be able to put a tick.

This is just a US game to “attach” any other states to its actions, ”the expert said in a commentary to RT.

According to Fedosova, there are no "weighty subjects" supporting US policy in the non-Western world, in particular in the Asia-Pacific region, so NATO has to be content with "manipulating its new type of colonies."

“Earlier, the West managed to persuade only Japan to the ritual supply of vans and drones, Australia sent armored vehicles to Ukraine, which no one else agreed to buy, and lethal weapons are supposedly transferred through NATO, not on their own behalf,” the analyst stated.

As Fedosova noted, Washington itself is in no hurry to give up its Abrams tanks.

“The first deliveries are being discussed for the future - in a year, therefore, NATO, under the leadership of the United States, wants to support the Ukrainian military machine, which is lame undercarriage, with small injections by proxy,” the expert said.

However, the United States failed to build a system of aggressive alliances similar to NATO in other parts of the world that would supply Kyiv with weapons, Fedosova said.

She recalled that the QUAD association, where the United States also wanted to connect India to Australia and Japan, remained in the dialogue format, and New Delhi took a tough position of non-alignment.

In Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, there is no mass support for Western ideas on pumping Kyiv with weapons either, the analyst noted.

“It remains only to put pressure on proven, “infiltrated” allies in other regions.

However, if the pressure on South Korea intensifies, then the country can modify its legislation, but will only make minor deliveries: it will not run ahead of the locomotive.

Following the model of Tokyo, Seoul will choose from the nomenclature something that it doesn’t really need and send it to Ukraine piece by piece,” the expert concluded.