South Korean President Yoon Seok-yul made a surprise visit to Kiev and pledged to increase humanitarian aid to Ukraine from $100 million last year to $150 million this year.
At a press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv today, Sok Yol said he would provide Ukraine with critical military aid, such as helmets and bulletproof vests.
South Korea has provided Ukraine with much-needed defense equipment such as mine detectors and humanitarian aid since May, he said.
For his part, Zelinski praised the South Korean president’s visit, a first for his country, and said their talks dealt with everything that would allow people to lead normal and safe lives.
Sol was worried
The surprise visit comes after the South Korean president attended the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Lithuania and visited Poland last week, where he confronted Russia and expressed his solidarity with Ukraine.
South Korea is a U.S. ally and the world’s ninth-largest arms exporter, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, but Seoul is concerned about Russia’s influence in North Korea and resists Western pressure to arm Ukraine directly.
He indicated that his country would cooperate with Kiev on some projects, such as infrastructure construction, supported by soft loans from Seoul.
He asked Yun to increase military support when they first met in May.
South Korea’s defense ministry said it was considering exporting munitions to the United States, but said parts of a media report that Seoul had agreed to send artillery shells to the United States for delivery to Ukraine were incorrect.
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