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BRUSSEL (ANP) – The European Union will continue to wholeheartedly support cooperation with South Korea and other like-minded countries in East Asia, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after a phone call with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.
The conversation follows NATO’s confirmation that Russia is deploying North Korean troops against Ukraine in the Russian border region of Kursk.
The EU and South Korea are already periodically discussing common interests and announced a joint Security and Defense Partnership in May 2023. “The start of this partnership comes exactly at the right time, and its logic is more important than ever,” said Von der Leyen in a statement following the telephone conversation.
North and South Korea are officially still at war with each other after a war fought in the 1950s. The long-standing ceasefire between the countries is being seriously undermined by the close and open military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, said NATO chief Mark Rutte on Monday. South Korea is, in turn, a partner of NATO and Ukraine.
(October 25, 2024)
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