President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with President of the Republic of Korea Yoon Suk Yeol, who arrived in our country on a visit.
Addressing the leader of South Korea, the Ukrainian Head of State expressed condolences from himself personally and on behalf of all Ukrainians on the devastating flood currently raging in the Republic of Korea.
Zelenskyy also thanked Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife for the warm reception of the First Lady of Ukraine during her visit to the Republic of Korea in May of this year.
"Meetings and the mutual understanding achieved created the emotional connection that helps us understand each other very quickly now during the negotiations. And I am especially glad that you are in Ukraine with the First Lady of the Republic of Korea," the President of Ukraine said at a meeting with media representatives following the negotiations with Yoon Suk Yeol in Kyiv.
According to him, the President of the Republic of Korea, during his visit to Bucha and Irpin today, was able to see with his own eyes the consequences of the Russian occupation.
But Bucha and Irpin are only two of the thousands of Ukrainian cities that were hit by Russian terror. The scale of suffering and destruction brought by Russia is huge. Therefore, the scale of global cooperation should be huge to restore security and guarantee lasting peace," the Ukrainian Head of State said.
The President of Ukraine said that our country is doing everything to free the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia and return freedom to all adults and children who are in these areas or were forcibly deported to the Russian Federation.
"We must again give all Ukrainian children the opportunity to live in safety, without war, torture, and violence. I am grateful to you, Mr. President, and the First Lady, to all your people for supporting our efforts for the sake of peace and security of our people, for the return of Ukrainian children stolen by Russia," he said.
Zelenskyy said that the Republic of Korea firmly supports Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and provides significant political, security, economic, and humanitarian support. He also thanked Yoon Suk Yeol for new initiatives regarding financial, technical, and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
"This is also the rebuilding of infrastructure in Ukraine: schools, hospitals, housing, enterprises, everything destroyed by Russian missiles and enemy artillery. Thank you for your willingness to support our education system. And it is very important that the Republic of Korea really protects education and humanity. We need a new large-scale rehabilitation industry. I invited the Republic of Korea to show leadership in creating rehabilitation centers in Ukraine. Of course, we also discussed economic cooperation – this includes energy, railways, and transport in general, the creation of production facilities in Ukraine, local content, as well as the macro-financial sphere. We definitely have something to do together in each of these areas. And I am sure that our cooperation will add strength to our nations and the global positions of Ukraine and the Republic of Korea," the Ukrainian Head of State said.
He said the agreement on transferring special purpose vehicles and equipment to our country, including demining machines, is already being implemented.
Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude for the readiness of the Republic of Korea to support Ukrainian efforts in global food and energy security.
During the negotiations, the President of Ukraine also informed his Korean counterpart about efforts to implement the Peace Formula.
"Grateful for the Republic of Korea's interest in specific points of the Formula. It is important that the Republic of Korea will be a participant in the Global Peace Summit," he said.
The Ukrainian head of state invited Korea to join the declaration of support for Ukraine agreed with the G7 leaders.
Separately, Zelenskyy emphasized the support of the Republic of Korea for joint efforts to provide justice for Ukraine and the punishment of all those guilty of war crimes.
"Supporting the efforts of the International Criminal Court and recognizing the need for special international procedures to punish Russian aggression is very important," he said.
The President of the Republic of Korea, for his part, expressed his condolences to the relatives and friends of all those killed due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Yoon Suk Yeol said that the Republic of Korea itself had been illegally invaded by North Korea in the past, but thanks to the resistance of the military and civilians, it was able to preserve its freedom and become a strong, peaceful, and prosperous state. The President of Korea expressed hope that his visit to Ukraine will help President Zelenskyy and the entire Ukrainian people.
"I hope these negotiations will become a new page in our relations. Today, we launched an initiative to help Ukraine in the military, humanitarian spheres, and post-war reconstruction," Yoon Suk Yeol said.
The Korean leader said that it is now important to ensure the security and victory of Ukraine in this war, and the level of defense assistance from his country will increase this year.
According to him, in continuation of the agreements with President Zelenskyy, the Republic of Korea will continue assisting Ukraine in the humanitarian demining of territories, infrastructure restoration, development of education, and entrepreneurship.
Yoon Suk Yeol also said that the Ukrainian Peace Formula must be implemented, and Korea will act as a mediator in negotiations with the countries of the Global South.
"The Republic of Korea will become a loyal partner of Ukraine in supporting freedom, peace, and development. And in the future, we will become very reliable partners in supporting peace and freedom in the world," Yoon Suk Yeol said.
