South Korea pledges military, reconstruction aid to Ukraine

ANKARA

South Korea has pledged to provide a “package of security, humanitarian and reconstruction assistance” to war-hit Ukraine, which will include additional military supplies.

The pledge was made during talks between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, following a three-day surprise visit to the war-torn country on Saturday, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.

Addressing a joint press conference with Zelenskyy at the presidential palace in Kyiv, the South Korean president said his country would be a “partner in Ukraine’s construction of freedom, peace and prosperity.”

Yoon said Seoul would provide a “comprehensive” package of security, humanitarian and reconstruction assistance, dubbed the “Ukraine Peace and Solidarity Initiative,” which will include additional military supplies that are larger in scope than last year’s and the effective implementation of $150 million worth of humanitarian aid, or $50 million more than last year.

South Korea’s assistance to Ukraine has included military supplies, such as first-aid kits, medicine, portable mine detectors and protective suits, but the country has denied any request for lethal weapons.

The two leaders also agreed to expand cooperation between their governments and businesses, such as by swiftly identifying and pushing bilateral projects in infrastructure and construction using a $100 million fund set aside by South Korea.

The two countries will also increase cooperation to establish on- and offline educational programs in Ukraine, rebuild educational facilities destroyed in the war, and set up a Yoon Suk Yeol-Zelenskyy scholarship program to help Ukrainian students in South Korea complete their studies and offer similar benefits to more students.

Zelenskyy, for his part, thanked Seoul for its “continued security and humanitarian assistance.”

Yoon is the first South Korean president to visit a battlefield where the country’s troops have not been deployed, according to his office.

This was the second Yoon-Zelenskyy meeting after one held on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, in May.

• South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol