Photo : YONHAP News
President Yoon Suk Yeol says the government is open to the option of providing lethal weapons to Ukraine.
During a joint news conference following the Seoul-Warsaw summit in Seoul Thursday, Yoon stated his position on the matter when asked if he would consider sending troops or weapons to the war-torn country.
While noting that South Korea has so far limited its assistance to Ukraine to humanitarian support, Yoon said that his government will flexibly consider the choice of sending deadly weapons to Ukraine.
Seoul has provided humanitarian assistance to Ukraine while indirectly supplying 155-mm artillery shells through the U.S.
The shift comes in the wake of North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia, which Seoul and its partners suspect that Pyongyang decided in a bid to receive Russia’s technical assistance in its nuclear, missile and other military programs.