Russian President Vladimir Putin said South Korea would be making a “big mistake” if it supplied weapons to Ukraine.
“If that happens, we will make corresponding decisions that will not please the current leadership of South Korea,” Putin said during a trip to Vietnam on Thursday.
The South Korean government had previously expressed concern about a new strategic partnership between Russia and North Korea, which includes a vow of mutual assistance if either country is attacked.
Seoul said the security commitments violated U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang. It also suggested it could reconsider its long-standing policy of not supplying weapons to Kiev.
North Korea, ruled by dictator Kim Jong Un, is subject to sweeping UN sanctions and import bans over its nuclear weapons program, including arms trafficking and transfer of military technologies to the country.
Putin signed the partnership agreement with Kim during a state visit to Pyongyang on Wednesday.
At a press conference in Hanoi on Thursday, Putin called Seoul’s concerns unfounded.
He said South Korea feared nothing because the pact would apply only if Russia or North Korea were attacked by a third country.
“As far as I know, [South Korea] do not plan aggression” against North Korea, he said. This means that ‘there is no reason to fear our cooperation’.
Putin also said he would not deploy North Korean soldiers to Ukraine.
However, he threatened to supply high-precision weapons to North Korea in response to Western arms supplies to Ukraine.
