German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed concern over the current situation in the Korean peninsula during a visit to South Korea. Scholz said the current ballistic missile tests conducted by North Korea posed a risk to peace in the peninsula.
Scholz visited South Korea following his trip to Japan for the G7 Summit in Hiroshima over the weekend. Scholz visited the Korean Demilitarized Zone, where he expressed concern over the ongoing ballistic missile tests Pyongyang has conducted and ramped up in recent years. Scholz also met with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who also attended the G7 summit as an observer.
Scholz said North Korea’s missile tests are a sign that the situation in the Korean peninsula is “still dangerous” and that the tests by Pyongyang are a “threat to peace and security in the region.” Scholz added that Germany was able to overcome its history as a divided nation, but such division remains in the Korean peninsula to this day.
Yoon later said after meeting with Scholz that both South Korea and Germany are set to sign an agreement that aims to protect military secrets and boost defense cooperation. Yoon told a briefing that the information-sharing agreement would help “smoothly operate the defense industry supply chain” at a time of economic and political instability around the world.
Yoon also stressed the importance of respect for freedom as a universal value at a time of rising authoritarianism amongst democracy, unstable global supply chains, and the ongoing war in Ukraine. Yoon and Scholz also discussed boosting cooperation in other areas, such as semiconductors.
During Yoon’s attendance at the G7 summit, the South Korean leader also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which Zelenskyy discussed Kyiv’s efforts in the war. This marked the first meeting between Yoon and Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy also said that Yoon was informed about the situation on the front lines and how Ukraine is pushing back against Moscow’s “full-scale aggression.”
South Korea’s Yonhap reported that the meeting between Yoon and Zelenskyy was at Kyiv’s request, with both countries agreeing to exchange visits of delegations, according to Zelenskyy’s office in a statement.
Photo: European Parliament/Wikimedia Commons(CC by 2.0)