Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during a meeting held as part of a working visit to Japan to attend the G7 summit, discussed the recent visit of a Ukrainian delegation with President Yoon Seok Yeol of the Republic of Korea.
“Told about the situation on the front and the progress of our state’s repulsion of full-scale aggression. Discussed the recent visit of the Ukrainian delegation to the Republic of Korea. Acknowledged the attention to the projects presented by the first lady of Ukraine,” Zelensky wrote in his telegram channel on Sunday.
He also thanked for the humanitarian and non-lethal assistance to Ukraine provided by South Korea, in particular for the provision of demining machines and protective equipment.
According to the press service of the President of Ukraine, the parties confirmed the agreements reached during the Ukrainian delegation’s stay in South Korea and agreed to exchange visits of the delegations.
Zelenskyy also noted the high level of organization of the visit and thanked for the attention to the projects presented by the first lady of Ukraine.
A delegation of South Korea’s ruling People’s Power party will visit Ukraine next month, Yonhap reports citing officials.
Party chairman Lee Jung Suk and some party lawmakers will travel to Ukraine in early June as part of a “special delegation of Korean-Ukrainian freedom, peace and solidarity,” they said.
The exact date of the visit has not yet been determined.
“South Koreans deplore the situation in Ukraine and hope for a speedy peace,” the party’s press release quoted the agency as saying.
As noted in the Power of the People, their party will be the first political party in Asia to send a delegation to Ukraine.
South Korea plans to provide Ukraine with an additional 2 billion won ($1.6 million) in non-lethal aid this month, Yonhap News has reported, citing an informed source.
According to the source, Seoul is preparing to start sending items such as bulletproof vests, helmets, medical supplies and ready-to-eat food to Ukraine as early as next week.
South Korea plans to phase out new aid on civilian flights to Europe until the end of April.
Seoul already sent 1 billion won in aid last month.
The South Korean company Caris plans to build a plant in Ukraine for manufacturing of road safety fences from recycled plastic worth more than $60 million, considering the Stryi district of Lviv region as a site, according to the website of the city council of Stryi.
According to the press service, Mayor of Stryi Oleh Kanivets last week signed a memorandum with Caris CEO Yu Cheol during his business trip to Kyiv.
“The company plans to build factories in Ukraine for the production of plastic road safety fences. We are ready to create about 900 jobs. Stryi territorial community is interesting for its convenient logistics location and proximity to the European market,” the press service said.
In turn, the press service of the Ministry of Economy also announced the plans of Caris to build a $60 million plant in Ukraine for the production of road safety fences.
According to the report, on June 11, Deputy Economy Minister Iryna Novikova met with Yu Cheol.
“There is a hope that the project will be able to take advantage of new government support for projects with substantial investment, since it provides for $60 million in investments and the creation of new jobs. Investment projects that take into account environmental issues are important for us,” Novikova said.
The press service of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry also reported about its support of this project.
“We will accompany this project, and we will use all the possibilities of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry so that the investor does not regret any dollar invested in Ukraine,” the press service said, citing President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hennadiy Chyzhykov.
According to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the representative office of Caris in Ukraine is headed by ex-head of the State Finance Institution for Innovations (SFII) Volodymyr Stavniuk.
In January 2020, the Korean company announced on its website that it had signed an agreement with SFII for the construction of a plant for the production of plastic fences in Ukraine. In particular, the agreement provided for the creation of a PVC production and technology joint venture. Investments in the construction of the plant were projected in the amount of $100 million.
According to the public register, in December 2019, Caris Ukraine LLC was registered in Ukraine, 51% of which is owned by Yu Cheol through Caris, another 49% is owned by Vladlen Levchuk through Socrat Development LLC.
The trading corporation Posco International together with Nonghyup Feed, the largest importer of feed grain in Korea, supplied 68,000 tonnes of feed wheat from Ukraine to South Korea.
According to a report on Posco International’s website, out of 68,000 tonnes, 41,000 tonnes were sent through the Ukrainian grain terminal Posco.
“This food import is important because this is the first case of a stable supply of high quality feed grain to South Korea, secured by investments from a domestic company,” the company’s release stated.
Posco International expects that with the first delivery of feed wheat, the company will build a stable national grain procurement system using its own export terminal, expanding imports of wheat and maize.
The company indicated that in September 2019, Posco International completed the construction of an export grain terminal capable of shipping 2.5 million tonnes of grain per year at Mykolaiv Maritime Merchant Port.
It is noted that Posco International’s agricultural business is expanding with the delivery of major grains such as wheat, maize, soybeans and barley, but it all started with rice. The trade volume increased from 840,000 tonnes in 2015 to about 7.5 million tonnes in 2020.
The Verkhovna Rada’s chairman Andriy Parubiy will be on a visit to South Korea from December 10 to discuss, in particular, a visa-free regime between the two countries.
“We are on the brink of crucial decisions,” Parubiy said in an interview with Rada TV channel, adding that there are plans “to reach the finish in discussing the decision to discontinue the visa regime between Ukraine and South Korea.”
“Today South Korea is one of the most dynamically developing economies in the world. It is one of the top twenty most effective world economies. It is important that Ukraine could have a visa-free regime with South Korea as well,” the politician said.
The Ukrainian parliament’s speaker said the parties are planning to sign an agreement between the Verkhovna Rada and the parliament of South Korea that will help promote closer cooperation between the parliaments of both countries. Also, he voiced the hope for receiving support and assistance in upgrading the Rada system, which is used by the Ukrainian parliament for voting purposes.
Parubiy said his trip will be very important for the inter-parliamentary diplomacy and for cooperation with that region.
