SEOUL, September 05 (AJP) -South Korea, already under U.S. pressure to contribute to security operations around the Strait of Hormuz, is facing a second test of its military restraint as President Donald Trump amplified a call for Seoul to provide Ukraine with Korean-made missile interceptors.
Trump on Friday shared on Truth Social a Washington Post opinion column titled “How Trump can help Ukraine build its own Patriot missiles,” without adding any comment of his own. The column, by Marc Thiessen, urged Trump to press South Korea to sell Ukraine its M-SAM II, or Cheongung-II, air-defense system as an interim answer to Kyiv's shortage of missile interceptors.
Trump's decision to circulate the article does not amount to a formal policy demand. But it drew attention in Seoul because the column explicitly tied Korean military support for Ukraine to another source of friction with Washington: the Lee Jae Myung government's reluctance so far to commit forces to the Strait of Hormuz.
South Korea is separately reviewing military and nonmilitary options to support freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, including possible maritime contributions, but the presidential office says no decision has been made. Any deployment would carry domestic political and legal complications, including questions over National Assembly approval.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sought South Korean weapons almost from the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion.
In an April 2022 video address to South Korea's National Assembly, Zelenskyy appealed for aircraft, tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, ammunition and air-defense, anti-tank and anti-ship weapons, arguing that existing rules on arms supplies needed to be reconsidered.
The requests have continued as Ukraine's need for air defense has intensified. Last month, Zelenskyy said South Korea and Japan possessed capabilities that could have helped protect Ukraine from ballistic missile attacks but had not supplied them because of their domestic restrictions. He separately appealed to Seoul for urgent air-defense assistance as Russia stepped up missile attacks.
Seoul has nevertheless maintained its longstanding policy of providing humanitarian and nonlethal military assistance to Ukraine rather than directly supplying lethal weapons to a country at war.
Supplying Korean weapons that could be used against Russian or North Korean forces would potentially move Seoul closer to direct participation in a conflict involving its own heavily armed neighbor.
North Korean soldiers are fighting alongside Russian troops in the Kursk region, a deployment acknowledged by Moscow and Pyongyang. Ukrainian intelligence also says a North Korean missile unit has been deployed to Russia's Voronezh region, potentially equipped with ballistic missiles. North Korea has separately supplied Russia with large quantities of artillery ammunition and missiles.
An M-SAM II transferred to Ukraine could, in principle, be used to intercept a missile supplied or operated by North Korea. Other Korean weapons could conceivably be employed against North Korean personnel fighting for Russia.
Such a scenario would transform what Seoul has treated as support for a distant partner into something much closer to an indirect Korean military confrontation on European soil.
Russia and North Korea signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty in 2024 providing for military assistance if either side is attacked, while Pyongyang has gained combat experience and potentially access to Russian military technology through the partnership.
President Lee, meanwhile, is pursuing renewed dialogue with North Korea and has called for conditions that could enable Washington and Pyongyang to return to negotiations. A decision to arm Ukraine while North Korean forces are involved on Russia's side could complicate that effort.
AJP Takeaways:
- Zelenskyy has repeatedly appealed to Seoul for weapons and air defenses as Russian missile attacks intensify.
- Direct arms transfers remain difficult for Seoul as North Korean troops and missiles are now part of Russia's war effort.
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