President Yoon Suk-yeol became the first South Korean leader to attend a NATO summit, while attending a meeting with NATO national leaders as an observer in Spain as Russian forces intensified attacks on Ukraine. “As a new structure of competition and conflict unfolds, there is also a movement that denies the global values we have upheld,” Yoon was quoted as saying by a South Korean official. Mr Yoon, although he did not identify Russia or China, said the international community was facing complex security threats that one country alone could not address, Yoon said in an unannounced speech. “He was referring to the war in Ukraine and, as most other participating countries did, he was concerned about Russia’s responsibility for the war and China’s responsibility to the international community,” said the official, who declined to be named. South Korea is a staunch ally of the United States and hosts about 28,000 American troops. It has also developed a critical economic relationship with China, South Korea’s largest trading partner.
