South Korea is considering “various” ways to respond to North Korea’s deployment of troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine, Seoul’s defense ministry said Monday, while declining to state whether the ROK will provide direct military aid to Kyiv.

The statement comes after South Korea’s presidential office confirmed the DPRK deployment last week, with Seoul’s spy agency releasing satellite imagery that it said showed Russian naval vessels transporting North Korean special forces to the Russian Far East.

“The government is keeping a close eye on the situation, staying open to various possibilities,” defense ministry spokesperson Jeon Ha-kyu said on