Seoul-Moscow relations ‘difficult,’ but South has limited options: Lee

President Lee Jae Myung is seen during the news conference with foreign media held at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Wednesday. (Pool photo via Yonhap)

President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday stressed that while Russia is an important nation for South Korea, Seoul has little options due to the war on Ukraine and Moscow’s deepening ties with Pyongyang.

Speaking at the press conference with foreign media, Lee said that Moscow-Pyongyang ties are developing in a “very undesirable” direction for South Korea, but that the country will “do our best to prevent things from worsening and work to improve the situation, even slightly.”

Q. Over the past one to two years, North Korea and Russia have grown increasingly closer.

In light of this, do you have any intention of directly reaching out to Russian President Putin to help achieve peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula?

Do you plan to approach President Putin directly to encourage North Korea to return to the dialogue table?

A. From South Korea’s perspective, our relationship with Russia is indeed very important.

However, at present, due to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine—an invasion that violates international law—international sanctions are ongoing, and South Korea is also participating in sanctions against Russia.

This has created a rather frustrating situation.

From a humanitarian standpoint and for the sake of global peace, we hope the Russia–Ukraine war comes to an end as soon as possible.

Too many people are dying. Too many lives are being destroyed.

War should be avoided under any circumstance. As I often say, what meaning does it really have to "win" a war? What matters more is winning without fighting.

The most important and ideal form of security is to create a state where there’s no need to fight at all—that is, to build peace.

That’s what I believe.

Whether it’s in Ukraine or Gaza, seeing innocent people killed by bombs, guns, and swords—countless lives lost—is something we must never tolerate.

Yet, these tragedies are unfolding beyond our control, and we watch with heavy hearts.

Still, we must remember how critical global peace—and especially stability in Northeast Asia—is.

To achieve this, we must keep the dialogue going and continue to communicate.

We must cooperate where we can, and even if there are times we must confront one another, we should always strive to prevent relations from deteriorating into something abnormal.

We must work continuously to create better conditions.

It’s true that the North Korea–Russia relationship is developing in a very undesirable direction for us.

But that doesn’t mean we can give up.

We must do our best to prevent things from worsening and work to improve the situation, even slightly.

Although our relationship with Russia is very difficult, we are making continuous efforts to maintain communication.

However, I must be clear that at this stage, what we can do is very limited.

We are willing to make efforts, to communicate, and even to meet if necessary—but as of now, it remains extremely difficult.