South Korea mentioned it might promote 1000’s of artillery shells to the United States, however solely given that the supplies utilized by US forces wouldn’t be despatched to assist Ukraine within the warfare towards Russia.
Ukraine, South Korea, has been reluctant to ship lethal assist to Ukraine for worry of its involvement within the battle, amid a worldwide scramble for brand spanking new sources to ship weapons to different nations.
A US official confirmed talks between Washington and Seoul for a South Korean protection contractor to promote cannon-sized ammunition to the Pentagon. The United States has been a significant provider of weapons that Ukraine desperately wants as a nine-month warfare rages on.
The deal was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal, which mentioned the artillery shells have been destined for Ukraine.
But in an announcement on Friday, South Korea’s protection ministry mentioned the sale was to assist replenish US artillery stockpiles. It mentioned the talks are being held “on the condition that the United States will be the end user of the shells.”
“There has been no change in our government’s position: we will not supply lethal weapons to Ukraine,” the assertion mentioned.
It is feasible that South Korean ammunition will solely be used to fill American-made rounds, which in flip are despatched to Ukraine. Such behind-the-scenes arms transfers have turn into more and more frequent as US officers and NATO allies attempt to cowl states that wish to seem impartial in instances of warfare.
But a number of US officers reached on Friday have been both unclear in regards to the phrases of the deal or in any other case declined to remark.
In an announcement, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed talks between South Korea and the United States, however didn’t explicitly point out Ukraine.
Lieutenant Colonel Martin Meiners referred to “discussions about a possible sale of ammunition to the United States by a South Korean non-governmental industrial defense base”.
He mentioned all arms offers between the United States and South Korea have been fastidiously monitored to make sure they didn’t create vulnerabilities for these forces on the Korean Peninsula towards threats from North Korea.
No deal would “detract from our defensive posture or readiness to respond against regional threats,” Meiners mentioned.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
