San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
S. KOREAN PRESIDENT MAKES STOP IN UKRAINE, OFFERS MORE SUPPORT
Humanitarian aid, nonlethal military supplies to increase
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Saturday, offering support for the invaded country in its war with Russia while demonstrating his own nation’s cooperation with NATO.
Yoon’s office said he traveled to Ukraine following trips to Lithuania for a NATO summit and to Poland. It’s his first visit since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Yoon toured Bucha and Irpin, two small cities near Kyiv where bodies of civilians were found in the streets and mass graves after Russian troops retreated from the capital region last year. He laid flowers at a monument to the country’s war dead before sitting down for a summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
South Korea, a key U.S. ally in Asia, joined international sanctions against Russia and has provided Ukraine with humanitarian and financial support to Ukraine. But the Asian nation, a growing arms exporter, hasn’t provided weapons to Ukraine, in line with its long-standing policy of not supplying arms to countries actively engaged in conflict.
During a joint news conference with Zelenskyy later Saturday, Yoon announced plans to expand support shipments to Ukraine but didn’t touch upon weapons supplies.
Yoon began his statement with a mention of the U.N. forces’ support of South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War that helped repel a North Korean invasion.
“The current situation facing Ukraine reminds us of the past situation of the Republic of Korea,” Yoon said.
Zelenskyy thanked Seoul for its “firm support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and the “significant political, security, economic and humanitarian aid” it has supplied since the start of Russia’s invasion.
Yoon said that South Korea will increase the shipments of nonlethal military items such as body armor and helmets this year. He said that South Korea will also provide humanitarian aid worth $150 million this year, up from $100 million last year, and noted that South Korea has also sent de-mining equipment and other aid items that had been requested by Ukraine.
Yoon said that he and Zelenskyy agreed on cooperating on post-war reconstruction efforts in Ukraine. Yoon said South Korea will also launch a scholarship fund named after him and Zelenskyy to expand support for Ukrainian students in South Korea.
South Korea isn’t a NATO member, but like Japan, Pakistan and a handful of other countries, it’s considered a global partner of the military alliance. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Ukraine in March.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, South Korea has reached billions of dollars worth of deals to provide tanks, howitzers, fighter jets and other weapons systems to NATO member Poland.
An American official said in November that the United States had agreed to buy 100,000 artillery rounds from South Korean manufacturers to provide to Ukraine, although South Korean officials have maintained that the munitions were meant to refill depleted U.S. stocks.
Yoon’s visit comes as Russia continues its assault on the country. Ukrainian forces on Friday and overnight downed 10 Russian drones across the country, the Ukrainian air force reported Saturday.
In a Telegram post, the air force added that Moscow fired six Iranian-made Shahed drones at Ukraine’s south and east during the night, four of which were shot down. It did not immediately give details of any casualties or damage.
In southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia province, where Ukraine has been engaged in a counteroffensive to take back occupied territory, there were 45 air and artillery attacks between Friday and Saturday, Gov. Yurii Malashka reported.
Russian forces shelled neighboring Kherson province 70 times over the same period, using mortars, artillery, drones, tanks, aviation and rocket launchers, Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said Saturday. No civilians were wounded, he said.
Ukrainian forces have been pressing their counteroffensive in the Donetsk province, inching their way from Velyka Novosilka down toward the Russianoccupied city of Mariupol.