Seoul rejects Kyiv’s request for anti-aircraft weapons ahead of Zelensky’s speech to South Korean parliament

 
INA-sources
 
South Korea has turned down a Ukrainian request for anti-aircraft weaponry because of its “principled stance” on not providing lethal hardware to the war-torn country, a defence ministry official said in Seoul on Monday.
The official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the request was made when Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov called his South Korean counterpart Suh Wook on Friday.
“The Ukrainian defence minister asked for weapons for air defence and Minister Suh politely repeated the South Korean government’s principled stance that its aid is confined to non-lethal materials,” he told This Week in Asia.
 
South Korea has turned down a Ukrainian request for anti-aircraft weaponry because of its “principled stance” on not providing lethal hardware to the war-torn country, a defence ministry official said in Seoul on Monday.
The official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the request was made when Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov called his South Korean counterpart Suh Wook on Friday.
“The Ukrainian defence minister asked for weapons for air defence and Minister Suh politely repeated the South Korean government’s principled stance that its aid is confined to non-lethal materials,” he told This Week in Asia.
The Chosun newspaper, quoting another defence ministry official who was not named, said Reznikov wanted South Korea to supply its “Shingung” shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, which are marketed internationally as the “Chiron”.
 
Ukraine has received about 25,000 anti-aircraft weapons systems from the United States and its allies, helping Kyiv prevent Russia from establishing air superiority that would have aided Moscow’s ground invasion, the US’ top general said on Thursday.
Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US and its allies had also supplied Ukraine with 60,000 anti-tank systems.
Zelensky directly pleaded to lawmakers and the White House during an address to Congress on Wednesday to quickly send weapons capable of defending his country’s skies from Russia’s missile and aerial attacks.