Reuters, SEOUL
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell yesterday held talks with his South Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yul, amid growing concerns in Seoul over the dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia for its war with Ukraine.
Borrell arrived in South Korea after a trip to Japan and visited the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, the diplomat said in a post on social media platform X on Sunday.
“My visit today of the Demilitarized Zone — DMZ — between the Republic of Korea and the DPRK is yet another reminder of the need to invest more in peace,” Borrell said in the post, referring to the initials of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
South Korean Minister of Defense Kim Yong-hyun, left, talks with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, right, during a meeting at the South Korean Ministry of Defense in Seoul yesterday.
Photo: AP
Borrell is visiting South Korea to take security and defense cooperation between the EU and Seoul to “the next level,” he said in another post, without elaborating.
It is the first such strategic dialogue meeting between the EU and South Korea.
Borrell also met with South Korean Minister of Defense Kim Yong-hyun in Seoul yesterday and expressed concern over the development, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Cho last week said that all possible scenarios were under consideration, when asked about whether Seoul could send weapons to Ukraine in response to North Korea’s aiding Russia.
South Korea has provided non-lethal aid to Ukraine, but so far has resisted Kyiv’s requests for weapons.
Seoul also sees it as likely that the North would be compensated by Moscow with military and civilian technology, as it races to launch a spy satellite and upgrade its missile capabilities.
