2024-10-24 15:06 update: 2024-10-25, 14:24
Photo PAP/Piotr Nowak
Polish President Andrzej Duda, on his official visit to South Korea, met with the country's president, Yoon Suk-Yeol, in Seoul on Thursday.
Duda started his four-day trip to South Korea on Tuesday.
The Polish presidential couple received an official welcome from President Yoon and his wife in front of the Yongsan Presidential Office on Thursday afternoon.
Later the two presidents engaged in discussions within a limited group, which was followed by talks involving their respective presidential delegations.
Yoon said after the talks that he and Duda had condemned Pyongyang's military cooperation with Moscow.
"We condemned North Korea in the strongest terms for its development of nuclear and missile weapons and provocations and for its illegal military cooperation with Russia," the South Korean president said. "We agreed that the deployment of North Korean troops in Russia, which violates the United Nations Charter and the Security Council resolution, is a provocation that threatens the security of not only the Korean Peninsula and Europe but also the entire world."
South Korea recently warned that its northern neighbour was sending thousands of troops to help Russia in the war against Ukraine.
Yoon also announced that, in this situation, Poland and South Korea were launching regular consultations on defence and their defence industries.
"We affirmed, once again, that South Korea and Poland are contributing to maintenance of international peace," Yoon continued. "We'll cooperate towards the protection of rules-based order."
Yoon also expressed hope that a second contract for the delivery of South Korean K2 tanks to Poland would be finalised by the end of the year.
"Both sides have decided to actively support the successful course of cooperation in the defence industry, including a second executive contract for the K2 tanks, which both countries are discussing, with the aim of signing it by the end of the year," he said.
Duda said he had told Yoon about his concerns over the cooperation between North Korea and Russia.
"I shared with the president my concerns related to activities that create an increase in the sense of insecurity here, on the Korean Peninsula," the Polish president said. "I assured him that Poland, as a neutral country, will do everything to ensure that these anxieties are as low as possible and to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula."
Yoon warned that if North Korean special forces are involved on the Ukrainian front, Seoul will have to respond, depending on Pyongyang's moves.
"It is almost certain that (North Korea) is sending special forces to Russia, Yoon said. "If they are on the front in Ukraine, we'll have to respond depending on North Korean activities," Yoon said. "We follow a principle that we do not transfer destructive weapons to anyone. In this case we'll have to consider a more flexible approach. It depends what moves we see on the part of North Korea."
He added that so far his country had provided humanitarian aid to Ukraine, but "the situation has changed."
"I have informed Mr President that we will be increasing support for the Ukrainian nation based on the peace and solidarity initiative announced by our government a year ago and will cooperate with Poland in the process," the South Korean president also said.
On Friday, Duda is set visit the manufacturers of military equipment that Poland has ordered from South Korea, including a Hyundai Rotem plant, the manufacturer of K2 tanks, and Hanwha Aerospace, the producer of K9 howitzers and Chunmoo rocket launchers. (PAP)
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