South Korea and EU worry about Russia's technology transfer in return for North Korea troops

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea and the European Union on Monday strongly condemned North Korea’s reported dispatch of troops to aid Russia’s war against Ukraine and expressed concerns that Russia could reward North Korea with transfers of sensitive technology to enhance its nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea’s troop deployment, confirmed by the U.S. and NATO, threatens to expand the almost 3-year-long war and is causing security jitters in South Korea and elsewhere about what Russia could give North Korea in return.

After a meeting in Seoul, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell issued a joint statement condemning in the “strongest possible terms” North Korea’s deployment and voicing worries about Russia's possible provision of materials and technology to North Korea in support of its military objectives.

“We are also deeply concerned about the possibility for any transfer of nuclear- or ballistic missile-related technology to the DPRK, which would jeopardize the international non-proliferation efforts and threaten peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and across the globe,” the statement said. DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.

Cho and Borrell called North Korea's deployment a “flagrant” violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions and called on North Korea and Russia to immediately withdraw the troops from Russia.

Also on Monday, in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin met North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, who has been on an official visit to Russia since late last week. State television showed them greeting each other, but details of the meeting were not available.

Earlier Monday, Borrell met South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun and they agreed to work together with the international community to try to obstruct Russian-North Korean security cooperation, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.

North Korea and Russia haven’t explicitly confirmed the North Korean deployment. But they’ve both argued that their military cooperation conforms with international laws.

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Monday that as many as 10,000 North Korean soldiers were in Russia’s Kursk region near Ukraine’s border and preparing to join Moscow’s fight against Ukraine in the coming days. That’s up from the 8,000 troops that the U.S. government mentioned Thursday.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged allies to stop just “watching” and take steps before North Korean troops deployed in Russia reach the battlefield.

According to U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments, North Korea was estimated to have moved a total of about 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia. If they start fighting against Ukraine forces, it would mark North Korea’s first participation in a large-scale conflict since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has used the Russia-Ukraine war as a way to expand defense and economic cooperation with Russia in the face of an intensifying U.S.-led pressure campaign against his advancing nuclear program. The U.S., South Korea and others accuse North Korea of having already exported artillery shells, missiles and other conventional arms to Russia.

Besides Russia's possible weapons technology transfer, South Korean officials also worry that Moscow might offer defense commitment to North Korea in the event of a war on the Korean Peninsula. The North Korean troops in Russia could also learn valuable combat experience and get Russian help to modernize their outdated conventional weapons systems.

In the past two years, Kim has ramped up tests of nuclear-capable missile systems, as Russia and China have repeatedly blocked U.S.-led attempts to toughen international sanctions on North Korea over its testing activities in defiance of U.N. bans. Last week, North Korea test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to attack the U.S. mainland for the first time in almost a year.

North Korea has also pushed to sever relations and abandon its long-standing goal of reconciliation with South Korea.

In a background briefing with local media Monday, South Korea’s military said North Korea has built anti-tank, trench-like structures at two sites near the Koreas’ heavily armed border, where it blew up northern parts of unused cross-border road and rail routes last month in a display of anger toward South Korea.

In a war situation, the North could easily fill up the trenches with piles of dirt nearby to create routes to invade the South, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Details of the briefing were shared with The Associated Press.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, right, talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul (not in picture) during a meeting at the Foreign Ministry, in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. ( Chung Sung-Jun/Pool Photo via AP)

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, left, and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, right, during a meeting at the Foreign Ministry, in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. ( Chung Sung-Jun/Pool Photo via AP)

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, talks to European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, not in picture, during a meeting at the Foreign Ministry, in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. ( Chung Sung-Jun/Pool Photo via AP)

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, back to camera, during a meeting at the Foreign Ministry, in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. ( Chung Sung-Jun/Pool Photo via AP)

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, left and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, arrive for their meeting at the Foreign Ministry, in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. ( Chung Sung-Jun/Pool Photo via AP)

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, right, shakes hands with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, at the Foreign Ministry, in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. ( Chung Sung-Jun/Pool Photo via AP)

In this photo provided by South Korea Defense Ministry, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, left, and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, right, pose for a photo at the Defense Ministry, in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP)

In this photo provided by South Korea Defense Ministry, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, left, talks with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, right, during a meeting at the Defense Ministry, in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP)

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Tuesday sidestepped questions about Ukraine’s possible membership in the military alliance, saying that the priority now must be to strengthen the country’s hand in any future peace talks with Russia by sending it more weapons.

Rutte’s remarks, ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, came days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that extending alliance membership to territory now under Kyiv’s control could end “the hot stage" of the almost 3-year war in Ukraine, where Russian forces are pressing deeper into their western neighbor.

“The front is not moving eastwards. It is slowly moving westwards,” Rutte said. “So we have to make sure that Ukraine gets into a position of strength, and then it should be for the Ukrainian government to decide on the next steps, in terms of opening peace talks and how to conduct them.”

At their summit in Washington in July, leaders of the 32 NATO member countries insisted that Ukraine is on an “irreversible” path to membership. But some, led by the United States, have balked at moving forward while the war rages and before the country’s borders are clearly demarcated. All 32 countries must agree unanimously for Ukraine to join.

NATO was founded on the principle that an attack on any ally should be considered an attack on them all, and the alliance has consistently tried to avoid being dragged into a wider war with nuclear-armed Russia.

Zelenskyy argued that once open conflict ends, any proposal to join NATO could be extended to all parts of the country that fall under internationally recognized borders.

Pressed on this by reporters, Rutte said: “I would argue, let’s not have all these discussions step by step on what a peace process might look like.”

The first step, he said, must be to “make sure that Ukraine has what it needs to get to a position of strength when those peace talks start.”

Ukrainian officials made it clear Tuesday they won’t countenance any half measures or stopgap solutions on NATO membership.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry issued a strongly worded statement saying Ukraine “will not settle for any alternatives, surrogates or substitutes for Ukraine’s full membership in NATO,” citing its “bitter experience of the Budapest Memorandum.”

Under the international agreement signed in the Hungarian capital 30 years ago, Ukraine agreed to give up its Soviet-era atomic weapons, which amounted to the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal, in return for security guarantees from Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Foreign Ministry statement called the Budapest agreement a “monument to short-sightedness in making strategic security decisions.”

“We are convinced that the only real guarantee of security for Ukraine, as well as a deterrent for further Russian aggression against Ukraine and other states, is Ukraine’s full membership in NATO,” it said.

At NATO headquarters in Brussels, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha showed reporters a copy of the Budapest document.

“This document, this paper, failed to secure Ukrainian security and transatlantic security. So we must avoid to repeat such mistakes,” he said in English.

Reflecting on his recent meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Rutte said he had underlined that China, North Korea and Iran were weighing in on Russia's side, putting the United States and the Asia-Pacific region at risk.

“Whenever we get to a deal on Ukraine it has to be a good deal, because what we can never have is high-fiving Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping and whoever else," Rutte said, saying this would only encourage the leaders of North Korea and China to endorse the use of force elsewhere.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Ukraine’s allies must “do what it takes to support their self-defense for as long as it takes,” but acknowledged that the war will end in negotiations and potential compromise.

Starmer said in a speech late Monday that allies must “put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for negotiations so they can secure a just and lasting peace on their terms that guarantees their security, independence — and right to choose their own future.”

Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Jill Lawless in London contributed.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte deliver a statement ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels,Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, right, shakes hands with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels,Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a media conference prior to a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels,Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a media conference prior to a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels,Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a media conference prior to a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels,Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte takes questions during a media conference prior to a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels,Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a media conference prior to a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels,Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)