S. Korea vows $130m Ukraine aid this year

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a news conference during his meeting with delegation of African leaders in Kyiv, Ukraine on June 16, 2023. (AP-Yonhap)

South Korea said Thursday it will provide an additional $130 million in aid to help Ukraine recover from Russia’s invasion, at a two-day annual conference that started a day ago in London for the second time.

At the Ukraine Recovery Conference, which brought together officials from 61 countries and 33 international organizations and at least 400 companies, Bang Moon-kyu, minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, said Seoul pledged a $30 million increase in its budgetary support for Kyiv this year compared to last year.

“We will be able to help Kyiv to restore not only key infrastructure but essential social services (needed for Ukrainians),” Bang said in a statement released by his office. The Cabinet-level official assisting the Korean prime minister with policy referred to reconstruction projects Seoul had successfully put together on its own following the 1950-53 Korean War.

Public and private sector decision makers should closely work together and take part in rebuilding the wart-torn country, Bang added.

At the conference, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said he expected to secure almost $7 billion in aid, stressing what Kyiv is facing now is the largest reconstruction project in Europe since World War II. Kyiv says it should not only recover but develop into a more modernized Western country.

By Choi Si-young(siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)