North Korea's provision of military aid has significantly improved Russia's position in Ukraine, allowing Moscow to maintain its domestic stockpile of weapons, a senior German military official said during a visit to South Korea in Monday, BTA broadcasts.
General Carsten Breuer, the head of defense, noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not seek arms from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if they did not constitute substantial assistance, the "Reuters" agency reported.
"This is about increasing the production of weapons that Russia uses in its aggression against Ukraine. It also allows them to keep their own arsenals intact," said General Breuer at a press conference in the South Korean capital of Seoul.
According to Ukraine, the United States and other analysts, Kim Jong Un is helping the Russian war effort by supplying missiles and ammunition in exchange for economic and military support from Moscow.
According to US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robert Koepke, North Korea has sent at least 16,500 containers of ammunition and other related materials to Russia since last September, and of these, Russia has used more than 65 missiles against targets in Ukraine. This was reported in a speech by Koepke last week.
Both Moscow and Pyongyang officially deny conducting direct arms transfers that violate the UN embargo.
When asked if he had pressured South Korea to provide weapons to Ukraine, General Breuer expressed support for the Ukrainian position that air defense systems, infantry fighting vehicles and other military assets would contribute significantly to Ukraine's defense. He also emphasized that each country should make its contribution.
Although South Korea has provided non-lethal equipment and humanitarian aid, it does not intend to supply weapons unless Russian-North Korean cooperation crosses certain red lines, the meaning of which remains unspecified.
"We made it clear to North Korea that their military cooperation with Russia has a direct impact on our security," noted the German ambassador to South Korea, Georg Schmidt.
General Breuer also visited two German warships docked in South Korea, which are about to transit the South China Sea and make a stop in Manila.
However, he declined to comment on whether the ships would transit the Taiwan Strait, which would be the first such trip by German warships in more than 20 years.
China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, which is governed democratically, and claims control over the nearly 180-kilometer strip of water.
Taiwan categorically rejects China's claims and insists that only its citizens have the right to decide the island's future.
This revised text presents the same information but with different wording and sentence structures to avoid excessive similarity to the original.