South Koreans remain widely opposed to directly supplying arms to Ukraine, recent polls show, despite renewed international requests from Kyiv and allied capitals after North Korean troops were reported to be helping Russia.
Ukraine has asked Seoul for a range of weapons and Seoul has said it could consider such aid, depending on future steps by Russia and North Korea.
A Ukrainian delegation led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov met South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday, Yoon’s office said, amid media reports that the visit aimed to seek arms support.
“No to the South Korean government planning arms supply to Ukraine,” read a banner held by a small group of protesters gathered outside Yoon’s office in the capital.
Both sides agreed to keep up sharing of information on North Korea’s dispatch of troops to Russia as well as the exchange of technology and weapons between the two, Yoon’s office said in a statement.
The delegation also met Seoul’s national security advisor Shin Won-sik and defence minister Kim Yong-hyun and discussed cooperation between Seoul and Kyiv.
Ukraine planned to send Seoul a detailed request for arms support including artillery and an air defence system, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an October interview with South Korean broadcaster KBS.
A Western diplomat told Reuters that discussions behind the scenes focused on air defence systems designed to shoot down aircraft and missiles, but this month’s U.S. presidential election win by Donald Trump cast uncertainty over the talks.
Yoon, already battling with record low approval ratings over domestic scandals, faces wide opposition from the South Korean public to the idea of arming Ukraine, surveys have shown.
Most South Koreans viewed growing military ties between Pyongyang and Moscow as a threat, a Gallup Korea poll showed in October, but 82% opposed sending military aid, including arms.
“To the South Korean government, there will be fewer benefits for continuing to support (military aid) when there is little domestic support and the relationship with the next U.S government could deteriorate,” said Yang Uk, an analyst at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
Yoon’s low approval ratings, along with little public backing for supply of weapons, are burdens sapping his mandate on foreign policy, he added.
The public, largely not sensitive to the seriousness of the war in Ukraine, is likely to focus on the downside in the event of the South’s direct involvement, Yang said.
Unlike neighbouring Japan, which has also avoided directly arming Kyiv, South Korea is one of the world’s largest weapons exporters and has inked large, lucrative defence deals with Ukraine’s neighbours.
South Korea has provided demining vehicles, body armour, and other non-lethal aid for Ukraine and has not ruled out supply of weapons to Kyiv, especially after Seoul and Washington reported the dispatch of thousands of North Korean troops to Russia.
At home, the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) has criticised the government for not ruling out provision of weapons aid and urged it to seek parliamentary approval for such decisions.
The DP has a majority in parliament after a landslide victory in an April election, but experts say the president can bypass the body to supply lethal weapons to another country.
In an interview with Russia’s TASS news agency, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said ties between Seoul and Moscow would be “completely destroyed” if South Korea supplied arms to Ukraine.
Russia should first ask itself what it provides to North Korea in exchange for Pyongyang’s dispatch of troops and how it is threatening the security of South Korea, a senior South Korean foreign ministry official told a background briefing on Wednesday, when asked about the comments.
Seoul’s response depends on the actions of Russia and North Korea, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
https://www.reuters.com/world/south-koreans-remain-opposed-sending-arms-ukraine-2024-11-27/
On November 26, the Central Election Commission announced a tender for voluntary insurance of motor vehicles (CASCO) and compulsory motor third party liability insurance (MTPL), according to the Prozorro e-procurement system.
The total expected cost of the purchase of services is UAH 439.2 thousand.
The last day for receipt of bids is December 4.
The winner of a similar tender a year earlier on hull insurance was IC “Ultra Alliance”.
Quotes of interbank currency market of Ukraine (uah for €1, in 01.07.2024-30.07.2024)
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IC “Express Insurance” (Kiev) in January-October 2024 made payments in the amount of UAH 427,2 mln, which is by 57,5%, or by UAH 155,9 mln more than the indicator for the same period of 2023. According to the insurer’s website, including payments on CASCO amounted to UAH 357,5 mln (+51,1%), on MTPL – UAH 58,5 mln (2,3 times more), payments under other insurance contracts – UAH 11,2 mln (+16,7%).
At the same time, the company reports that in October-2024 payments to clients amounted to UAH 48 mln (+33.7%) more than in October-2023. In particular, the company paid UAH 38.4mn (+22.4%) under hull insurance contracts, and UAH 8.7mn (+2.5 times) under CMTPL insurance contracts.
Express Insurance was founded in 2008 and is a part of UkrAVTO group of companies. The company specializes in automobile insurance. Stable high speed of events settlement in IC is provided by optimal interaction with partner service stations.
Since April, 2012 IC Express Insurance is an associated member of the Motor Transport Insurance Bureau of Ukraine.
Industrial park (IP) “Belaya Tserkva” intends to start construction of two more factories in 2025, said Alexander Protsyuk, business development director of the industrial park.
“We now have five operating plants, three more are under construction and next year we will lay two more plants. That is, it will be more than 1 thousand jobs for Bila Tserkva, which is a significant achievement for a city of 250 thousand residents,” he said during the Ukrainian Automotive and Mobility Forum 2024 in Lviv.
Protsyuk recalled that since the beginning of the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation IP “Bila Tserkva” managed to attract three foreign investors – one of the world’s largest manufacturers of everyday goods company Uniliver, manufacturer of spare parts for electric vehicles InTiCa Systems, and a supplier of thin slab structures Finnish Peikko Group (whose plant is under construction – IF-U).
“InTiCa was the first company in Ukraine to obtain war risk insurance, and I will say that the quality of Ukrainian products is an order of magnitude higher than in its Czech division, where Ukrainians work, and in its Mexican division, which works for the American market. And now InTiCa is at a crossroads – they would very much like to move the plant from the Czech Republic to Ukraine, but they are worried about the Vienna risks. But I think we will expand their plant at our location,” Protsyuk said.
He also added that the work with Uniliver and Peikko Group lasted more than a year. “For these three successful cases we have four unsuccessful ones – these are large multinational companies, which for various reasons refused to enter or expand business in Ukraine,” – said the director of business development of IP ”Bila Tserkva.
Regarding the attractiveness of the park for investors, Protsyuk emphasized that for production cases location is certainly important (for example, in border areas), but equally important is access to high-quality but expensive labor and quick access to communications.
“These are two key things that attract investors – we don’t have to spend time on connecting to the networks, capacities are coordinated, and we have received funding from the government under the FE program. We have an unsuccessful history with USAID, but that was a good experience as well. We use all possible types of financing, including bank and grant financing,” Protsyuk said.
According to him today in the IP “Belaya Tserkva” of 36 hectares free 12 hectares, and in “Belaya Tserkva 2” – 24 hectares, and there is a built production facility of 2 thousand square meters, with connected communications in the neighborhood of Peikko and Uniliver.
“And we advise foreign investors who want to reduce the cost of production to keep up with global competition to think not only about investing in border cities like Lviv, for example, but also to shift a bit to the east, because the risks are not much bigger, but the advantages – good wages, freer access to communications, electricity – can offset these risks,” emphasizes Protsyuk.
“And we hope that next year we will have two more successful examples,” he summarized.
IP “Belaya Tserkva” and “Belaya Tserkva 2” – projects of the holding company UFuture of entrepreneur Vasily Khmelnitsky, were included in the Register of industrial parks in 2018.
On the developed territory of IP “Bila Tserkva” 41 square meters of production and warehouse premises were built and 14 residents were attracted, among which, in addition to Unilever, InTiCa Systems, Peikko and Pripravka relocated from Kharkiv since 2022, there is also a logistics depot of “Novaya Poshta”, a grain storage complex “Volytsya Agro”, a factory of electrical fittings Plank Electrotechnic, a manufacturer of high-rise equipment for construction work Virastar.
Quotes of interbank currency market of Ukraine (UAH for $1, in 01.07.2024-30.07.2024)
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