SEOUL: South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck Soo said Friday that South Korea has not yet decided whether to send lethal weapons to Ukraine, despite calls from Ukraine for heavy arms to support its fight against Russia.
In an interview with CNN’s “Quest Means Business,” Han said that South Korea has decided to increase its financial support for Ukraine this year while seeking to support Kyiv with electricity generation facilities.
Asked whether he will consider sending lethal weapons to Ukraine, Han replied, “Not now. I think.
“But we are quite supportive of Ukraine, and this year we decided that we will increase our support in the amount of US$130 million, and we are trying to support them in terms of electricity generation capabilities and so on.
“Whether we will go into some lethal weapons support, we are not yet decided on that issue,” he said, according to Yonhap news agency.
On North Korea test-fired a record number of missiles including intercontinental ballistic missiles last year, Han said it has prompted South Korea and the United States (US) to step up joint military drills.
Since the government of President Yoon Suk Yeol came into power last year, Han said South Korea has “put a lot of emphasis on building our deterrence capabilities in the right way, but we are not closing the dialogue.”
He also made it clear that South Korea will not consider acquiring its own nuclear weapons in the face of the North’s growing nuclear threats.
Asked whether South Korea would want its own nuclear capability or would want the US to redeploy its nuclear capabilities here, Han replied: “I don’t think it’s the right way for us to do it. We should work together with the international community, including our close ally, the US.
“We will put a lot of continuous pressure on North Korea to denuclearise, and we’d like to let North Korea know that developing and advancing nuclear capabilities will not guarantee peace and prosperity in their country and also on the Korean Peninsula and globally.” – BERNAMA
