Humanitarian demining is among the priority areas of the Government of the Republic of Korea’s assistance to Ukraine. In particular, thanks to Korea’s support, Ukraine will receive 10 humanitarian mine clearance vehicles by the end of the year.

First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko said about it in her column for Ekonomichna Pravda. Moreover, Yuliia Svyrydenko explained the importance of the first visit of the President of the Republic of Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, to Ukraine for Korean-Ukrainian relations.

According to the Minister of Economy, partners’ support in humanitarian mine clearance is essential for Ukraine, since more than 174,000 square kilometers of Ukraine may be potentially contaminated with explosive ordnance. This is almost twice the size of the Republic of Korea.

“Thanks to the support of the Republic of Korea, we will receive at least 10 humanitarian mine clearance vehicles by the end of the year. They are urgently needed, as there are currently no more than 20 such vehicles operating throughout the country,” said the Minister.

According to Yuliia Svyrydenko, Yoon Suk Yeol reaffirmed Korea’s commitment to actively support Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction at the meeting in Kyiv. Seoul sees the role of its businesses in areas such as airport restoration, the supply of small modular reactors, construction equipment, rail transport and information technology.

At the same time, Ukraine is seeking to involve Korean companies in projects in such areas as green metallurgy, shipbuilding, lithium batteries and electric vehicles, power equipment, agricultural machinery and fertilizer production. 

“And, of course, we are very interested in cooperation in the defense industry, as Korean weapons are designed to counter the soviet-russian weapons of North Korea,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

The Minister of Economy of Ukraine also said that an agreement between Ukraine and the Republic of Korea on projects of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) would enter into force this year. The agreement provides for projects aimed at supplying the necessary equipment to Ukraine, as well as projects aimed at deepening industrial cooperation between manufacturers, in particular localization of Korean enterprises in Ukraine, supply of components, maintenance of equipment, investment projects, etc. The agreement was finalized in May this year during the Ukrainian delegation’s visit to Seoul.

“Together with our partners, we are working to move from active but transactional trade to systemic and structured industrial cooperation. We are designing future reconstruction projects on the basis of a new approach to cooperation between governments and businesses,” said the First Deputy Prime Minister.

It should be noted that this is the first visit of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to Ukraine, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and representatives of the Ukrainian business community. During the meeting, Yoon Suk Yeol said that this year Korea’s assistance to Ukraine would reach USD 150 million. It is planned to use part of the funds for humanitarian demining of Ukraine.