Take a prudent approach with Ukraine

In the jungle of diplomacy and international politics, what matters is prudence, or a combination of meticulousness and a sense of balance.

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday made a surprise visit to Ukraine. After visiting Poland following his participation in the NATO summit in Lithuania, he went on to Kyiv, the capital of the war-torn country, with only a few presidential aides. Given the volatile security of Ukraine, the president used a train to visit Kyiv instead of the usual Korean Air Force One.

During his visit, President Yoon toured the site of the massacre in Bucha near the capital and the Irpin city critically hit by Russian missile attacks. Then he held a summit with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In a joint statement after the summit, the two leaders said they decided to push for the “Ukraine Peace and Solidarity Initiative” for humanitarian and reconstruction assistance for the war-devastated country. Yoon pledged to send humanitarian aid worth $105 million for Ukraine as quickly as possible and provide financial help to the country by cooperating with the World Bank.

Korea also plans to provide military supplies to Ukraine on a larger scale than last year and cooperate in the assistance of Ukraine’s reconstruction in order to protect universal values such as democracy, humanitarian aid and human rights. Yoon’s diplomatic move reflects Korea’s heightened stature as a “global pivotal state,” as he mentioned earlier.

As suggested by Yoon’s remarks that the situation in Ukraine reminds us of a Korea in the middle of the Korean War seven decades ago, the ongoing war in Ukraine needs keen attention from the rest of the world. Korea’s assistance carries significance given the military support it received from the international community during the war, and later economic assistance from outside. Thanks to that support, Korea was able to be reborn as the world’s 10th largest economy. As seen in the exchange of a memorandum of understanding on Korea helping a construction project to expand Boryspil International Airport in Kyiv, Korean companies’ participation in a massive rebuilding of Ukraine will certainly help the economy.

But President Yoon’s visit to the battlefield should not lead to a reversal of his earlier position against providing combat weapons to Ukraine. Because it could trigger another vicious cycle, the government must take a careful approach. Despite warmhearted security concerns and humanitarian consideration for Ukraine, Korea cannot but consider its future relations with Russia.

In the jungle of diplomacy and international politics, what matters is prudence, or a combination of meticulousness and a sense of balance. The Yoon administration needs to have such wisdom in dealing with Ukraine and Russia — or, supporting the former while not making the latter a permanent enemy.