Secretary of Defense "Dismissal of duty if we don't send observers to Ukraine"

[Anchor]
Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who is visiting the U.S., said that South Korea should also send troops to Ukraine for intelligence-gathering purposes while North Korea has sent a large number of troops to Russia.

He said it would be possible to analyze North Korean military combat trends and use them as useful information, adding that it is a dereliction of duty not to send observers.

This is Washington correspondent Kwon Jun-ki.

[Reporter]
After a security consultation meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Austin, Defense Secretary Kim Yong-hyun was asked about the opposition's opposition to sending troops to Ukraine during a joint press conference.

Minister Kim made it clear that he should send observers and money analysis teams to Ukraine again this time, saying that he has sent observers and money analysis teams to the Iraq war in the past.

He said it is a dereliction of duty not to send our troops as much as we can collect information on North Korean soldiers operating on the battlefield.

[Kim Yong-hyun / Minister of National Defense: I think it is our military's duty to send an observation team to the war in Ukraine or to send an analysis team on the situation. If you don't do that, I think that's wrong and dereliction of duty.

U.S. Defense Secretary Austin expressed concern about the possibility of escalation if he participates in the war, saying that 10,000 North Korean troops are sent to the battle.

It is predicted that there is a possibility that other countries may take action against the North Korean military.

[Royce Austin / U.S. Secretary of Defense] (North Korean troops) may encourage other countries to take action. However, I will not guess what will happen.

Minister Kim Yong-hyun diagnosed that North Korea's dispatch of troops did not increase the possibility of a war on the Korean Peninsula.

However, North Korea said it could receive advanced nuclear weapons technology from Russia in exchange for sending troops, adding that security concerns have grown.

He also strongly criticized North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for sending North Korean troops to Russia.

[Kim Yong-hyun / Minister of National Defense: Kim Jong-un sent his army as a bulletproof mercenary to maintain his own dictatorship. I think so.]

Minister Kim said North Korea's provocation of filth balloons is crossing the red line and that he can come up with different countermeasures than before.

In a joint statement, the defense ministers of South Korea and the U.S. said they have decided to include a response to North Korea's nuclear use in the South Korea-U.S. joint exercises.

Minister Kim said small-scale dispatch can be decided by the defense minister's judgment without parliamentary consent, stressing that sending observers, not combat troops, is essential for future preparations.

This is YTN Kwon Jun-ki from Washington.