Russia warns South Korea over deepening NATO ties

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it has "serious concern" about South Korea’s growing tilt toward NATO, calling the move a threat to Russian security and unacceptable for Seoul to become a de‑facto participant in NATO’s rearmament. The remarks were made after Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko met South Korean Ambassador Lee Seok‑bae in Moscow.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung attended the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7–8, the only Indo‑Pacific partner leader to take part, and urged an upgraded "South Korea‑NATO defense industry partnership 2.0" that would expand cooperation beyond arms sales to joint research, development and production of weapons systems, as well as cybersecurity and emerging‑technology collaboration. Russia characterised NATO as openly preparing for war with Russia and warned that deeper Seoul‑NATO military‑technical cooperation could directly threaten Russian national security.