President Yoon meets Zelenskyy in Ukraine

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol had a summit meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday and pledged to provide more war supplies than last year. South Korea sent bulletproof jackets, helmets, etc. to Ukraine last year. On Sunday, a senior member of the South Korean presidential office said that South Korea is planning and visioning defense and industrial cooperation with Ukraine by taking a step forward from providing war supplies to the country. It was interpreted as a possibility to export weapons to Ukraine, while South Korea did not provide weapons.

President Yoon defined the Ukrainian war as Russia’s illegal invasion and announced the Ukraine peace and solidarity initiative, which will provide a comprehensive package of security, humanitarian and reconstruction assistance. It was the first time a South Korean president visited the capital and battlefield of a warfare state where South Korean forces are not deployed.

President Yoon joined the liberal democracy solidarity of the Western countries that are trying to block Russia’s attempts to change the situation by force by visiting Lithuania and Poland to attend a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for two consecutive years and crossing the border to visit Ukraine. However, President Yoon returned to South Korea on Sunday as the country experienced heavy rainfall. “If we fight in strong unity based on the spirit of ‘Those who seek death shall live. Those who seek life shall die,’ we will be able to protect freedom and democracy,” the South Korean president said in a joint statement at the Mariinsky Palace, the official residence of the President of Ukraine in Kyiv. He also pledged to provide supplies worth 150 million dollars this year, following 100 million dollars worth of humanitarian support last year.


Kwan-Seok Jang jks@donga.com