South Korea's President Yeol makes sudden Ukraine visit, meets Zelensky

South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol made a sudden and unannounced visit to Ukraine on Sunday where he went to the town of Bucha, before a summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, his office stated.

"The president first toured the Bucha city massacre site near the capital Kyiv and the city of Irpin, where missile attacks were concentrated on civilian residential areas," his office stated.

"President Yoon will visit a memorial for the war dead to lay a wreath, and hold a summit meeting with President Zelensky," it said in a statement.

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The ninth-largest arms exporter in the world, South Korea, has provided humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and also sold howitzers and tanks to Poland, which has been Kyiv's key ally as the country battles invading Russian forces.

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Seoul's policy of supplying weapons

However, South Korea has a long-standing policy of not giving weapons to zones which are involved in conflict, because of which the repeated requests from the United States, European allies and also Ukraine for arms have remained stuck.

The meeting of Yoon with Zelensky, who has previously appealed to Seoul to consider providing weapons directly to Kyiv, is likely to focus on the supply of aid by South Korea to the country.

Seoul, which has been technically at war with nuclear-armed North Korea, has been producing large volumes of NATO-compatible weaponry, which includes highly sought-after shell ammunition, tanks and howitzers.

Seoul has stated that it can reconsider its policy of not providing lethal aid, as Yoon had earlier this year stated that Russia's large-scale attack on civilians could tip the balance.

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However, in May, a US media report was dismissed by South Korea which stated that its artillery rounds were heading to Ukraine, stating that its stand on not supplying lethal aid to Kyiv remains unchanged.

But the experts have stated that South Korea has been in a tricky position because of the economic ties it shares with Russia, which is its 15th largest trading partner as of 2022 and also because of the influence that Moscow has over North Korea.

(With inputs from agencies)

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