North Korea on Blinken’s Agenda in Seoul Under Shadow of Gaza, Ukraine

By Soo-hyang Choi and Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold talks in South Korea on Thursday on growing military ties between North Korea and Russia, while he continues efforts to broker humanitarian pauses in the Israel-Hamas war and long-term solutions for Gaza.

Blinken arrived in South Korea late on Wednesday after attending a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Tokyo. The G7 ministers issued a joint statement calling for pauses in the fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow humanitarian aid to reach civilians in Gaza after a month of bombarment and increasing ground operations by Israel’s military.

The two-day visit to South Korea is the first by a U.S. secretary of state in two-and-a-half years and part of Blinken’s broader Asia trip that includes a later stop in India and an earlier stop in the Middle East.

Washington remains focused on the Indo-Pacific despite other global challenges, Blinken told a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, saying the U.S. is capable of “running and chewing gum at the same time.”

Blinken is expected to meet South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ahead of talks scheduled with Foreign Minister Park Jin on Thursday afternoon. They will discuss a response to the growing military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow and North Korea’s suspected supply of arms to Russia for use against Ukraine.

The United States and South Korea, along with Japan, have condemned what they say is the flow of arms and military equipment from North Korea to Russia, saying movements of cargo from the reclusive state to Russia was evidence of arms supply.

Pyongyang and Moscow denied claims of arms deals while their leaders pledged closer military cooperation when they met in September in Russia’s far east.

The G7 foreign ministers on Wednesday also condemned North Korea’s transfer of arms to Russia which they said was a direct violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Washington and Seoul see the closer military ties between the North and Russia, which is depleting stocks of munitions in its war with Ukraine, as an effort by Pyongyang to secure strategic military capabilities in return.

North Korea is preparing to launch a spy satellite after having failed twice this year to put one in orbit.

South Korea’s spy agency said last week North Korea was in the final stages of preparations for the launch after apparently receiving technical assistance from Russia.

South Korea’s military said on Monday it was on alert over possible North Korea provocations after Pyongyang designated Nov. 18 as “missile industry day” to mark the country’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) last year.

When he arrives for talks with Park at the foreign ministry, Blinken is expected to be met by a group of South Korean protesters demanding Israel immediately agree to a ceasefire and stop its occupation of Gaza.

(Reporting by Jack Kim and Soo-hyang Choi; Editing by Ed Davies and Lincoln Feast)

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