TIMESASIANews | South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol denied that Seoul was providing lethal weapons assistance to Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin said such a decision would destroy bilateral ties.
Reported by Al Jazeera on Friday (2022/10/28), Vladimir Putin made the remarks at a conference in Moscow on Thursday, accusing the West of inciting war in Ukraine and stressing that South Korea’s decision to supply weapons to Ukraine would destroy relations between Russia and Russia and South Korea.
According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, Yoon explained, “We have provided humanitarian and peaceful assistance to Ukraine in solidarity with the international community but never with lethal weapons or anything like that,” Yoon told reporters on Friday (2022/10/28).
“But after all, this is a matter of our sovereignty, and I want you to know that we are trying to maintain peaceful and good relations with all countries in the world, including Russia,” he said.
Seoul has sent bulletproof vests, helmets and other non-lethal military equipment and medical supplies to Ukraine and has rejected requests for weapons from Kyiv, Yonhap reported.
United States ally South Korea has said it will not provide lethal aid to Ukraine and has sought to avoid hostilities with Russia, both for economic reasons and the influence Moscow can exert over North Korea.
At a conference in Moscow on Thursday, Putin defended his war and blamed the US and the West for inciting conflict in Ukraine, saying the West was playing what he described as a “dangerous, bloody and dirty” geopolitical game that sows chaos around the world.
Putin has this message for South Korea. Seoul side also firmly said “Russia is not our enemy”. (**)
