Tag: Ukraine

South Korea continues to increase its military engagement with Ukraine by providing some much needed mine clearing vehicles:

Fortunately for Ukraine, South Korean firm Hyundai produces a similar breaching vehicle: the K600. And Seoul just pledged two of the 62-ton vehicles to Kyiv. South Korea will deliver the K600s “as soon as possible,” a government source told Chosun.

Hyundai makes a two-person K600 by removing the turret from a K1 tank—a South Korean variant of the American M-1—and adding a plow, an articulated excavator arm and a device for safely triggering magnetic mines.

The K600 is compatible with two dozer blades, both made by Pearson. A wedge-shape blade works best for digging up and shoving aside buried mines. A straight blade works better for generic engineering tasks: filling in trenches, digging revetments, et cetera.

Hyundai delivered the first K600s to the South Korean army in 2020. The South Korean and Ukrainian governments began discussing a K600 transfer back in May; the South Koreans finally approved the deal this month. There’s one caveat. The Ukrainians must deploy the vehicles only in “humanitarian” roles.

The caveat is meaningless. Arguably any mineclearing operation—even one that occurs while the engineers are under enemy fire—is humanitarian.

Forbes via a reader tip

You can read more at the link.

Hopefully the Russians got a cheap price for these North Korean artillery rounds which are apparently not very reliable:

While North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort, weapons produced in his country have apparently been turned against Russian forces.

The Financial Times reported Friday that Ukraine has been launching unpredictable, North Korean-made rockets at Russian troops. Ukrainian soldiers manning multiple-launch rocket systems near Bakhmut showed the weapons to the outlet.

A Ukrainian artillery commander told FT his troops don’t like using the weapons, which were made in the 1980s and ’90s, because they can often misfire or fail to explode. One soldier said, “They are very unreliable and do crazy things sometimes.”

Yahoo News

You can read more at the link.

With NATO showing increasing support for South Korea against North Korean provocations and energy and defense agreements with Poland, President Yoon had a very good NATO summit. He concluded his trip to Europe was a final excursion to Ukraine:

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks to his aides during a meeting on Korea’s heavy downpour on a train from Ukraine to Poland, Saturday (local time). Courtesy of presidential office

President Yoon Suk Yeol wrapped up his trip to three central European nations, Sunday (local time), during which he signaled Seoul’s stronger bonds with NATO and Ukraine. 

While Yoon was attending the 2023 NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday in yet another act of defiance. 

Following the summit and attending engagements in Poland, Yoon paid a surprise visit to Ukraine to discuss cooperation in reconstructing the war-torn nation. (…….)

The highlight of the trip, however, came after Yoon finished his preannounced six-day schedule, as he redirected his itinerary to Ukraine.

Yoon was invited to visit Ukraine during Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska’s visit to Seoul in May, and the presidential office had been reviewing this while preparing for the NATO summit. Yoon made the decision during his trip and reportedly asked for Poland’s help for his visit to Ukraine during the summit with Polish President Duda, who offered a safe route via train to Ukraine.

Only a limited number of presidential staff knew about this as it was kept secret even to most staffers until just hours before his departure to Ukraine. 

During his summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Yoon expressed Korea’s empathic support of Kyiv and promised expanded military, humanitarian and educational aid to the country. Zelenskyy responded by asking for South Korea’s participation in the country’s restoration projects. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see what Russia’s reaction to this is.

These seems like a good bet by South Korea to increase economic cooperation with the growing Eastern European power, Poland as well as prepare to help with the rebuilding of Ukraine when the war is over:

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) and Polish President Andrzej Duda pose for a photo during their summit talks at the presidential palace in Warsaw on July 13, 2023. (Yonhap)

 South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday that he and Polish President Andrzej Duda discussed strategic cooperation in nuclear energy, arms and infrastructure and agreed the two countries are “optimal partners” for Ukraine’s reconstruction.

Yoon made the remark during a joint press briefing following a summit with Duda, noting the two countries have already made large strides in their strategic partnership established in 2013, with bilateral trade reaching a record US$9 billion last year and South Korea becoming a key investor in Poland.

“We noted South Korean businesses’ expansion into cutting-edge industries in Poland, such as electric vehicle batteries and 5G networks, and agreed to work together to secure a future growth engine for both countries,” he said during the briefing at the presidential palace.

Yoon said he and Duda agreed that nuclear energy development is the optimal means to achieve both energy security and carbon neutrality, and to actively support cooperation between the two countries’ businesses for the successful construction of nuclear power plants in Poland.

He also said the two leaders agreed to work harder to ensure mutually beneficial cooperation in the defense industry following Poland’s purchases of 20 trillion won (US$15.6 billion) worth of K2 tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers and FA-50 fighters from South Korea last year.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.