US security adviser Sullivan notes risk of North Korea exploiting political turmoil in Seoul

WASHINGTON - There is a risk North Korea may try to exploit the domestic political turmoil in South Korea, and it is in Washington’s interest to help resolve the issue, said US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Jan 10.

Mr Sullivan told reporters in a briefing on the outgoing Biden administration’s policies towards Asia that the US-South Korea alliance remains strong, despite the domestic political issues in Seoul.

Mr Sullivan also said the trend on denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula was headed in the wrong direction, a reference to North Korea’s expanding nuclear weapons programme.

He said embattled South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived declaration of martial law in 2024 was shocking and wrong, but the country will emerge as a strong democracy committed to the US alliance.

Washington warned on Jan 8 that North Korea is benefiting from its troops fighting alongside Russia against Ukraine, gaining experience that makes Pyongyang “more capable of waging war against its neighbours”.

Russia has forged closer diplomatic and military ties with North Korea since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

More than 12,000 North Korean troops are in Russia, and in December, they began fighting against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea told the United Nations Security Council.

“The DPRK is significantly benefiting from receiving Russian military equipment, technology and experience, rendering it more capable of waging war against its neighbours,” Ms Shea told the council, which met over what Pyongyang said was a test of a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile on Jan 6.

“In turn, the DPRK will likely be eager to leverage these improvements to promote weapons sales and military training contracts globally,” she said, using the acronym for North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. REUTERS