South Korea's Yoon, Poland's Duda condemn N.Korea troop dispatch to Russia (updated)

HYUNDAI ROTEM

24/10/2024 08:24

(Changes sourcing, adds quote, details)
       SEOUL, Oct 24 (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon
Suk Yeol and Polish President Andrzej Duda on Thursday condemned
North Korea's dispatch of  troops to Russia for its war against
Ukraine as a global security threat, Yoon's office said.
    The two leaders held a summit and agreed to push to finalise
a new contract to export South Korean K-2 tanks to Poland by the
end of the year, Yoon told a joint news conference with Duda.
        "We agreed that North Korea's dispatch of troops to
Russia is a direct violation of U.N. Security Council
resolutions and the U.N. Charter and is a provocation that goes
beyond the Korean Peninsula and Europe to threaten global
security," Yoon said.
  
        North Korea has sent 3,000 troops to Russia to support
its war against Ukraine, South Korean lawmakers said on
Wednesday after being briefed by the national intelligence
agency, an estimate that is twice the previous figure. 
  
        The South Korean and Polish governments will actively
lend support to seal a deal before the end of the year for South
Korea's Hyundai Rotem  064350.KS  to supply K-2 tanks to Poland,
Yoon said. 
  
        Yoon said South Korea and Poland will establish a new
forum for defence dialogue and cooperate closely on security
matters that affect the two countries. 
  
        South Korea, an emerging major arms exporter, has signed
an estimated $22 billion framework agreement in 2022 to export
mechanised howitzers, tanks and fighter jets, as Poland ramps up
military spending in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
  

 (Reporting by Jack Kim and Hyonhee Shin
Editing by Ed Davies)
 ((hyonhee.shin@thomsonreuters.com;))