South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol makes surprise visit to Ukraine

This was reported by Yonhap.

Yoon travelled to Ukraine with his wife, Kim Keon Hee, after trips to Lithuania for a NATO summit and to Poland, his press service said.

Yoon visited the site of the massacre in Bucha near Kyiv, and then Irpin, a residential area that was subjected to large-scale shelling attacks.

Photo: Telegram of the Prosecutor General's Office

He also laid flowers at a monument to the country’s war dead before meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin showed South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol  and his wife the scenes of crimes committed by the Russian military during the occupation of Bucha in March 2022.

Kostin thanked President Yoon Suk Yeol for his firm stance and stressed that the international community has no right to tolerate large-scale attacks on civilians.

"Ukraine appreciates South Korea's support in the international arena, in particular at the UN, and its support for President Zelenskyy's Peace Formula. Today, we visited Bucha to see firsthand the consequences of Russia's inhuman tactics aimed at killing Ukrainian civilians. During the 33 days of occupation of Bucha, all kinds of war crimes have been committed here. These include torture, shootings of civilians and evacuation convoys, and sexual violence," the Prosecutor General stressed.

In addition, Yoon Suk Yeol paid tribute to the Ukrainian military who died in the war, First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Emine Dzheppar said.

"With South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and First Lady Kim Keon Hee we paid tribute to fallen Ukrainian soldiers in the Russian war against Ukraine. Ukraine and South Korea are united in our aim to restore justice & protect democracies from Russian tyranny," the statement said.

Later, the President of the Republic of Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, announced plans to increase military assistance to Ukraine compared to last year. He noted that the Republic of Korea had previously allocated $100 million to support Ukraine, and this year this support would amount to $150 million.

Zelenska discusses preservation of Ukrainian cultural heritage with the First Lady of the Republic of Korea

Zelenska announced this on her Telegram channel.

Thus, one of the ways to preserve cultural heritage is digitalization, which is currently being implemented by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

According to Zelenska, the Republic of Korea is particularly powerful in the digital field. She expressed hope that the countries would be able to cooperate in this area as well.

In particular, during the meeting, the First Lady of Ukraine thanked Kim Keon Hee for visiting the cities of Bucha and Irpin in Kyiv region, which suffered from Russian terror, and the graves of victims of Russian war crimes. According to her, such visits are always a sign of solidarity for Ukrainians.

She also expressed gratitude to the President of the Republic of Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, for his firm support for the Ukrainian people and readiness to contribute to the restoration of Ukraine, which he confirmed at the NATO summit and in Poland, where he also visited.

"Once again, I am convinced that even half a globe between countries is not a distance for people who can feel and hear," Zelenska underscored.

In addition, the wife of Ukraine’s president invited Kim Keon Hee to the third Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen to be held in September this year.

"We will be talking about feelings and sensations - the mental health of not only Ukrainians but also people from all over the world. How can we turn vulnerability into resilience in the face of wars, crises, and a dangerous neighbor?" she said.

Zelenska is convinced: The Republic of Korea, like Ukraine, has something to share in this regard.

• On 14 July, South Korea had declared its readiness to invest in the reconstruction of Ukraine without waiting for the war to end. Seoul wants to focus on restoring water infrastructure.