The South Korean president visits Ukraine by surprise amid his country’s misgivings about the delivery of military aid

July 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, began a surprise visit to Ukraine this Saturday to ratify his support for his counterpart Volodimir Zelensky despite his country’s misgivings about the delivery of military aid in the war against Russia, given that the country’s official policy prevents the delivery of lethal aid to countries in conflict.

South Korea has sent humanitarian aid and pledged additional assistance to Ukraine worth some 200 million euros in packages that include mine clearance equipment and emergency medical evacuation vehicles.

Still, and according to data from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy collected by Time magazine, it is less than the amounts provided by countries with smaller economies such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Sweden.

Ukraine views possible South Korean aid with great interest because the South Korean Army is specialized in responding to combat equipment of Soviet origin, since they are the same as those used by its neighboring country, North Korea.

Now, Yoon and First Lady Kim Keon Hee are in Ukraine — following up on a previous visit to Poland and the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania — likely to meet with Zelensky later in the day and discuss areas in which Seoul can increase its aid, according to the official South Korean news agency Yonhap.

Yoon began his visit by visiting the Bucha massacre site near kyiv before visiting Irpin, a civilian residential area that has been the target of large-scale missile attacks. She was also planning to lay a wreath at the Ukraine Wall of Remembrance in kyiv.