South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol warns Russia against weapons collaboration with North Korea

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Wednesday that if Russia helped North Korea enhance its weapons programs in return for assistance for its war in Ukraine, it would be "a direct provocation" and Seoul and its allies would not stand idly by. In a speech to the annual high-level U.N. General Assembly, Yoon said such a scenario would threaten the peace and security of not only Ukraine but also South Korea.

Yoon made the comments just as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un returned to Pyongyang from a week-long trip to Russia in which he and Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to boost military cooperation.

North Korea's nuclear and missile programs were not only an existential threat to South Korea, but a serious challenge to peace in the Indo-Pacific region and across the globe, Yoon said.