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KYIV. May 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The issue of Seoul providing military assistance to Ukraine will be considered after studying the situation “on the ground,” National Security Adviser to the President of South Korea Cho Tae-yong said.
“We’ve been providing humanitarian and financial assistance to Ukraine until now. (…) We plan to consider it [the possibility of providing military assistance] after monitoring the situation on the ground and in light of other situations,” Yonhap said, citing Cho Tae-yong.
At the same time, as the agency notes, the national security adviser made it clear that at the moment there are no plans to send ammunition to Ukraine either directly or through Poland.
President Yoon Suk Yeol met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the first time last Sunday on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, and promised additional assistance, including mine-clearing equipment and ambulances.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that South Korea is already transferring hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds for Ukraine through the United States.
“South Korea is proceeding with the transfer of hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds for Ukraine, a move that U.S. officials said would make Kyiv’s planned offensive against Russian forces effective and allow the White House to delay a fraught decision about whether to supply cluster munitions banned by many countries,” it said.
Under the confidential arrangement, South Korea is transferring the shells to the U.S., which in turn has arranged for them to be sent to Ukraine. The White House declined to comment, as did a South Korean government spokesman in Seoul.
The Pentagon declined to say how the shells are being sent or when the transfer is to be completed, but acknowledged that it has been in discussion with Seoul on buying its ammunition.
