"South Korea Helped Russia," Ukraine Fires Back... Why Kyiv Specifically Targeted Seoul

Ukraine has criticized South Korea's Russia policy, citing a foreign media report that South Korea supplied large quantities of petroleum products to Russia.

Vladyslav Vlasiuk, sanctions advisor to the Ukrainian Presidential Office, shared an article on social media on October 6 local time stating that South Korea supplied diesel and other products to Russia, claiming it "stands in stark contrast to South Korea's sanctions policy."

Previously, the British newspaper The Guardian reported, based on port records and vessel tracking data, that in July and August, seven tankers transported a total of over 176,000 tons of petroleum products from South Korean ports such as Ulsan and Yeosu to the Russian Far East across 14 voyages.

The report added that most of these shipments were diesel, which faced acute shortages in Russia following Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries.

Regarding this, Advisor Vlasiuk argued that the shipments from South Korea helped offset Russia's refining capacity losses caused by Ukrainian attacks on its refining facilities.

South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the report.

The Ministry told The Guardian, "Under the Foreign Trade Act, we have expanded our export controls to include not only strategic goods but also 1,402 non-strategic items that could be used for military purposes, and we are strictly enforcing them," adding, "As a responsible member of the international community, we support and actively participate in international efforts to end the war in Ukraine and bring about a peaceful reconstruction."

South Korea and Ukraine have also recently been at odds over the issue of repatriating North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea.

During a parliamentary audit by the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the National Assembly yesterday, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun stated regarding the diplomatic friction surrounding the confidential repatriation of North Korean prisoners of war that he received a message containing "words of apology" from Ukraine.

However, Minister Cho noted, "There is a bit of a gap compared to what we expect, so we intend to take firm measures."

Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Chang Yu-jin | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.