President Yoon Concludes Successful NATO Summit with Visit to Ukraine
With NATO showing increasing support for South Korea against North Korean provocations and energy and defense agreements with Poland, President Yoon had a very good NATO summit. He concluded his trip to Europe was a final excursion to Ukraine:
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| President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks to his aides during a meeting on Korea’s heavy downpour on a train from Ukraine to Poland, Saturday (local time). Courtesy of presidential office |
President Yoon Suk Yeol wrapped up his trip to three central European nations, Sunday (local time), during which he signaled Seoul’s stronger bonds with NATO and Ukraine.
While Yoon was attending the 2023 NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday in yet another act of defiance.
Following the summit and attending engagements in Poland, Yoon paid a surprise visit to Ukraine to discuss cooperation in reconstructing the war-torn nation. (…….)The highlight of the trip, however, came after Yoon finished his preannounced six-day schedule, as he redirected his itinerary to Ukraine.
Yoon was invited to visit Ukraine during Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska’s visit to Seoul in May, and the presidential office had been reviewing this while preparing for the NATO summit. Yoon made the decision during his trip and reportedly asked for Poland’s help for his visit to Ukraine during the summit with Polish President Duda, who offered a safe route via train to Ukraine.Only a limited number of presidential staff knew about this as it was kept secret even to most staffers until just hours before his departure to Ukraine.
Korea Times
During his summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Yoon expressed Korea’s empathic support of Kyiv and promised expanded military, humanitarian and educational aid to the country. Zelenskyy responded by asking for South Korea’s participation in the country’s restoration projects.
You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see what Russia’s reaction to this is.
