South Korea summons Russian envoy over comments on President

South Korea has called in Russian diplomats to lodge complaints over Moscow's criticism of President Yoon Suk Yeol for remarks about North Korea's pursuit of a nuclear arsenal, the foreign ministry said.

The ministry said that Chung Byung-won, South Korea's deputy foreign minister for political affairs, summoned Ambassador Georgy Zinoviev on Saturday to say that Moscow lashing out at Yoon's remarks would only harm the relationship between the two countries.

"Deputy Minister Chung said that it was very regrettable that Russia ignored the truth and unconditionally protected North Korea while criticizing the leader's remarks in extremely rude language, and emphasized that this would only worsen Korea-Russia relations," the ministry said in a statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has deepened ties with Seoul's rival, North Korea, since invading Ukraine in 2022. The United States and its allies have condemned what they say have been significant North Korean missile deliveries to Russia to help its war effort.

Yoon told a meeting on Wednesday of defense and security officials: "The North Korean regime is going through fire and water solely for the sake of maintaining its hereditary totalitarian regime while blatantly ignoring international law and UN Security Council resolutions by trading arms with Russia."

The next day, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Yoon's remarks "blatantly biased."

She told reporters the comments "look particularly odious," given rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, "primarily due to the brazen policy of the United States and its allies, including (South) Korea and Japan."

On Sunday, Seoul's foreign ministry said that Chung had met on Friday with Russia's visiting Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko and conveyed Seoul's stern stance on the military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow. The ministry said that Kim Gunn, Seoul's nuclear envoy, also met with Rudenko.

The statement said Chung and Rudenko also discussed issues, including Russia's war in Ukraine.

Reuters