South Korean president warns NATO summit of threats to world values

The President of South Korea warned the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit of the threat to global values, according to a South Korean official, at a time of new conflict and competition, in reference to the Russian operation in Ukraine and China’s cooperation with Russia.
President Yun Seok-yeol became the first South Korean leader to attend a NATO summit, and joined NATO leaders as an observer at a summit in Spain as Russian forces intensified their attacks in Ukraine.
“With the new structure of competition and conflict, there is also a movement that is denying the universal values ​​that we have been protecting,” a South Korean official said.
The official quoted Yun as saying in his speech that the international community faces complex security threats that no single country can solve, but he did not mention Russia or China.
“He was referring to the Ukraine war and, as most of the other participating countries have done, he raised concerns about Russia’s responsibility for the war and China’s responsibility in the international community,” the official, who asked not to be identified, said on Thursday.
South Korea is a staunch ally of the United States and hosts about 28,000 US troops. It has also developed an important economic relationship with China, Seoul’s largest trading partner. Yun, like his predecessors, will have to balance these two relationships while simultaneously confronting North Korea, which is developing its arsenal of nuclear weapons and the missiles needed to launch them.
South Korean officials said ahead of the summit that Yun hopes to build relations with NATO members in the face of the unpredictable international situation and to strengthen international cooperation over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
Yun had met with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who also attended the NATO summit as an observer, and they agreed that progress in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs poses serious threats not only to the Korean peninsula, but also to East Asia and the world.
And Chinese state media warned against the attendance of South Korea and Japan for the NATO summit, and criticized the alliance’s expansion of partnerships in Asia.
North Korea said this week that NATO’s involvement in the Asia-Pacific region would import conflict raging in Europe.
(Archyde.com)