Korea under growing pressure to join US-led anti-Russia alliance

Seoul says paying close attention to developments in Ukraine

By Kang Seung-woo

Korea appears to be caught up in a conundrum over Ukraine, having to choose between its economic interests and duty as an ally of the United States following Washington's reference to possible military assistance from Seoul.

However, the Korean government said it has not received an official request from the U.S. about the issue.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said, Monday (local time), Ukrainians would be happy should Korea want to assist the Eastern European country in a “tangible way.”

“We've noted and I've said before that many of our other allies in NATO were also finding ways to support Ukraine but those are sovereign decisions that each nation state has to make for themselves and I wouldn't get ahead of the South Korean government on this,” he said during a press briefing.

His remarks came after a meeting by top diplomats from Korea, Japan and the U.S. in Hawaii, Saturday, where they shared unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, while voicing their commitment to work closely together to deter further Russian escalation, according to a joint statement of the trilateral foreign ministerial talks.

In response, the Ministry of National Defense said, Tuesday, that the U.S. had not made such a request, adding that it has been maintaining close coordination with "relevant organizations."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said it had been paying attention to developments related to the tense situation in Ukraine.

Ahead of Kirby's remarks, the U.S. had been reported to have asked Korea to provide liquefied natural gas to Europe in the event of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which could trigger supply and demand problems. But the Korean government expressed its disapproval of that request.

Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha Womans University, said the U.S. government was expected to ask the Korean government to provide support to Ukraine should the situation get worse.

“Surely, the U.S can ask for Korea to play a role in the Ukraine crisis as the Biden administration's foreign policy is based on working together with allies in its foreign policy,” Park said.

The professor said Korea had reasons to respond to the U.S. call.

“There is a need for Korea to contribute to the rules-based international order. In addition, Ukraine is one of the Korea International Cooperation Agency's partner countries. In that respect, we cannot play dumb about it,” Park said.

However, Park said the Korean government also needs to consider Russia should it decide to help Ukraine.

“How Korea will support Ukraine will be important,” he said, adding that the U.S. would want Korea to offer humanitarian support rather than weapons supply.

“Even if Korea decides to help Ukraine, it needs to participate in a form of the international community's support because Russia would not specifically take issue with Korea about the Ukraine aid.”

Shin Beom-chul, director of North Korea military studies at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, also said should the situation deteriorate, Korea may consider dispatching peacekeeping troops.

“If the Ukraine crisis expand to a full-scale war, the U.S. could ask Korea to send soldiers for peacekeeping operations near the Russian border,” he said.

However, Shin said given the current situation, it is not likely that Korea will agonize over whether to accept U.S. requests with regard to the Ukraine crisis.

Russia said some of its troops are returning to base after completing drills along the Ukrainian border, which is seen as a step to de-escalate tensions. But the U.S. government still believes that Russia could invade Ukraine.