Why is Blinken in South Korea and will Seoul assist Ukraine against Russia?

Antony Blinken is scheduled to visit South Korea on Thursday, November 9, for discussions centered around security, as North Korea increases its military collaboration with Russia.

After attending the G7 conference in Tokyo and embarking on a quick tour of the Middle East, Blinken landed in Seoul late on Wednesday. This was his first trip to South Korea since President Yoon Suk Yeol took office a year ago.

The senior US envoy is scheduled to meet with Park Jin, his counterpart from South Korea, and is anticipated to give Yoon a courtesy visit.

According to US officials, the security ramifications of increasing military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow will probably take precedence.

After a summit between Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin in September in the far east of Russia, Pyongyang reportedly delivered one million artillery rounds to support Moscow's conflict in Ukraine in exchange for expertise in satellite technology, according to Seoul.

"We're deeply concerned about what Russia is providing Pyongyang in return for the weapons and munitions that it's getting," Blinken said in Tokyo.

Both North Korea and Russia, longtime allies, are subject to a number of international sanctions: Pyongyang for its nuclear weapons tests, and Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

North Korea, which has already failed twice this year, is also keen to launch a military surveillance satellite into orbit. 

Seoul has stated that success is more possible with Moscow's assistance, and preparations are already being made for a third try.

Demonstration for us support

"Given this renewed cooperation between North Korea and Russia, South Korea understandably wants a demonstration of US support and a reaffirmed US commitment to uphold UN sanctions, and this visit is designed to do that," Benjamin A. Engel, a professor at Seoul National University, told AFP.

The G7 said on Wednesday that Pyongyang has breached UN Security Council resolutions by transferring weapons to Russia.

Last month, the Kremlin declared that it had "no proof" that North Korea was supplying it with weapons.

As Seoul and Washington step up their own defence cooperation, US Secretary of defence Lloyd Austin will come after Blinken.

Less than a week after the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan visited a South Korean port, a US B-52 bomber with the capability to carry nuclear bombs made an unusual landing there last month.

Leif-Eric Easley, an Ewha University professor, stated that Blinken's travel is "further evidence" of a strengthened bilateral partnership. He also mentioned Seoul's increasing collaboration with Japan.

"Washington and Seoul are not only coordinating bilaterally on North Korea, they are preparing a trilateral response with Tokyo to Pyongyang's next provocation," Easley told AFP.

Washington is also anticipated to put additional pressure on Seoul, a significant arms exporter, to assist Ukraine more, since the South will continue to abide by a long-standing policy prohibiting it from supplying weapons into areas of ongoing conflict.

"As conflict in the Middle East and Russia's war in Ukraine reverberate around the world, upgraded alliance cooperation must be increasingly global in scope," Easley stated.