Kim Tae-hyo, the South Korean deputy national security director, enters the briefing room following an emergency National Security Council meeting on Tuesday. (Yonhap)

South Korea may mull expanding its support to Ukraine, including supplies of “offensive” weapons, depending on the extent of how deeply North Korea engages with Russia in the war efforts, a Seoul official said Tuesday.

Kim Tae-hyo, the South Korean deputy national security director, told reporters following a National Security Council meeting convened on this day that Seoul would be tuning its response to match the role Pyongyang plays in the war.

“All weapons, whether defensive or offensive, can be used to kill. We may consider sending defensive weapons, or even offensive weapons if things get too far,” one official from the presidential office said in response to a reporter’s question about Seoul possibly stepping up support for Ukraine.

“We are crafting a step-by-step plan to respond to the possible varying degrees of North Korean involvement in the war. I will not go further into which cards we hold as it could affect their judgment and calculations,” the official said. What other options South Korea has may be revealed in time should North Korea and Russia deepen their military alignment, according to the presidential office.

Kim said that in the meantime Seoul would “make sure to inform the North Korean people” about their regime exploiting them.

“The North Korean regime, which has been preoccupied with nuclear and missile developments while completely ignoring the livelihoods and rights of their people, is sending their youth to die in an unjustified war,” the deputy national security director said.

The Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank affiliated with the National Intelligence Service in Seoul, said in a report Tuesday that North Korean troops dying fighting Russia’s war, already suggested by Ukrainian media, could fare badly with the North Korean people once the news gets in.

“The contingencies among North Korean troops could lead to discontent with or backlash against the regime within the North Korean military or among the North Korean general public at large,” the report said.

The report said North Korea had more to lose in the long run from by having its troops enter the war.

The value North Korea holds to Russia will wane once the war subsides, although at the moment the two countries may seek cooperation where their mutual interests are aligned, the report said.

“North Korea’s usefulness to Russia can only diminish once the war de-escalates or comes to an end. Then, North Korea would not be able to count on Russia for economic assistance,” it said.

The report said North Korea, cut off from its sources of foreign currency income amid weakened relations with China, could suffer a harder blow to the economy when Russian assistance is no longer available.

“In short, North Korea stands to lose more than it could gain by fighting alongside Russia against Ukraine,” stated the report.

Meanwhile a representative at the North Korean Permanent Mission to the United Nations has dismissed South Korean government announcements and media reports about North Korea deploying troops to fight with Russia.

Speaking at a meeting of the UN General Assembly First Committee, or the Disarmament and International Security Committee, in New York on Monday, local time, the North Korean representative said he does not “feel the need to comment on such rumors.”

“The so-called military cooperation with Russia is a baseless and obvious rumor that is aimed at undermining the legitimate and friendly cooperative relations between sovereign states and tarnishing our national image,” he said.

He was speaking in response to comments by a Ukrainian representative about North Korea engaging in arms deals with Russia and dispatch troops to fight Ukraine. The Ukrainian representative said there was possible evidence that suggests North Korea may send members of its regular forces in the near future.

The comments made at the UN meeting mark the first reaction from North Korean authorities to growing intelligence out of South Korea and Ukraine that North Korean troops are joining Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Speaking at the same meeting, South Korean UN Ambassador Hwang Joon-kook urged North Korea and Russia to immediately cease military cooperation.

“North Korea has repeatedly violated international norms and UN Security Council resolutions, but their dispatch of troops is shocking,” the South Korean ambassador said.

“No matter how desperate Russia is military-wise, it is extremely dangerous to mobilize forces of a notorious rogue state,” he said, referring apparently to North Korea. “It is hard to believe that a permanent member of the Security Council would take such a gamble in a bid to change the course of the war.”

Jean Ha-gyu, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, said Tuesday there was “an array of support” Russia was expected to offer North Korea ranging from monetary assistance to technology transfers.

Two days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy raised the possibility of North Korean troops being deployed in the war, the NIS in Seoul on Tuesday confirmed that members of North Korea’s special forces were being shipped to Russia.