South Korean President to meet with Ukrainian Defense Minister

A Ukrainian delegation headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov will visit Seoul on Wednesday, November 27, and meet with President of the Republic of Korea Yun Seok-yeol. This was reported by the Yonhap news agency.

Umerov is expected to share intelligence about North Korea's troop movements to Russia and seek South Korea's support for Ukraine's military action.

Yun said South Korea may consider providing military support to Ukraine depending on the degree of military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.

Russian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Georgy Zinoviev said on October 24 that South Korean deliveries of lethal weapons to Ukraine would not change the course of the special military operation, but would ruin the prospect of restoring relations between Moscow and Seoul.

Prior to that, on June 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin drew attention to the fact that South Korea had not yet provided direct assistance to Ukraine, but was already involved in the conflict. The head of state added that the South Korean side had created a number of problems in the cooperation between Moscow and Seoul. Nevertheless, Putin expects that the level of relations between the two countries achieved in the past decades will be preserved to become a foundation for restoring cooperation.

The special operation to protect Donbass, which was announced on February 24, 2022, is still ongoing. The decision to conduct it was taken against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.