Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, in an interview with the New York Times published yesterday, demanded that President Joe Biden intervene directly with Seoul to get South Korean artillery shells to Ukraine. Morawiecki was likely seizing on U.S. efforts to get South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to agree to help arm the Kiev regime. These efforts were the topic of at least one of the leaked classified documents, a document which included a wiretapped conversation among the South Korean President’s top national security advisors.
Morawiecki told the Times that Russia’s military has far more artillery shells, and is firing far more rounds on the battlefield each month than the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He said South Korea has a huge supply of artillery shells, and could help.
But forging a deal, he added, would require more direct involvement from Biden to assure South Korea that the United States would offer support in the face of any aggressive response from China or Russia. “We spoke to South Korea about this, the weapons delivery and delivery of ammunition,” Morawiecki said. “But I don’t think that this is going to be possible without the intervention of the United States. South Korea is fearful of Russian reaction, and Chinese reaction.”
