South Korea reluctant to supply weapons to Ukraine

Many in the West believed that North Korea's engagement with Russia would lead South Korea to become more supportive of Ukraine. This is not the case. Distrustful of information on North Korean deployment in Russia and worried about the policy of the new Trump administration which promises to end the conflict, South Korea is hesitant to supply weapons to Ukraine. On this issue, Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said Thursday, November 28, Seoul “will work in solidarity with the international community”rather than engaging directly.

This positioning confirms the impression born from the lightning visit to Seoul on November 27 by Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. The arrival of this “special envoy” from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was kept secret until the last moment.

The delegation landed at Incheon International Airport (west of Seoul) aboard a plane of the Polish company LOT. Accompanied by around ten people, including intelligence officials, and carrying a message from President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr. Umerov met South Korean President Yoon Suk yeol, the Minister of Defense, then the head of national security, Shin Won-sik. Ukraine has reportedly asked Seoul to provide it with air defense systems, self-propelled guns, shells and Taejong surface-to-air missiles.

At the end of his meeting with the president, Mr. Umerov refused to comment on arms supplies. Officially, the two sides agreed to exchange information on the deployment of North Korean troops in Russia and on military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow. Coincidence? Russian Defense Minister Andreï Beloussov, for his part, visited North Korea on Friday November 29.

Agreement between Putin and Kim Jong-un

Since the outbreak of the Russian invasion in 2022, South Korea has provided humanitarian and economic support to Ukraine. It does not sell weapons to kyiv, but exports them massively to Western states which supply them. At the same time, it was slow to adopt sanctions against Russia.

The agreement reached in June between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un – accompanied by reciprocal military assistance – led Seoul to “reconsider the issue of supplying weapons to Ukraine”, National Security Advisor Chang Ho-jin said at the time.

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