SEOUL, February 7. /TASS/. South Korea may be removed from the list of countries unfriendly to Russia if it revokes the sanctions it imposed against Moscow after the special military operation began, Russian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Georgy Zinoviev said in an interview with the Yonhap news agency.
Last December South Korea tightened its export controls on Moscow for dual-use items that could potentially be used for military purposes. "These kinds of decisions do not help maintain the level of our substantive bilateral cooperation. The minimum requirement for relieving South Korea of the unfriendly nation status is to revoke its sanctions against Russia," the diplomat said.
Seoul-Moscow relations are maintained due to South Korea’s refusal to supply arms directly to Ukraine, he noted. "This stance of South Korea is very important. Because [South] Korea is sticking to this position, we are able to maintain bilateral relations at this level," the ambassador said. The Republic of Korea supplied humanitarian and financial aid, non-lethal military items but not weapons to Kiev.
Prospects
Relations between Moscow and Seoul "have not hit rock bottom," Zinoviev noted. "Our bilateral relations are not as good as we hope them to be, but at the same time, have not hit rock bottom either. Our top priority is to maintain and stabilize the bilateral relations that we have, prevent the ties from exacerbating to a confrontational level and refrain from taking actions that can cause further deterioration," he said. "By doing so, I believe that we can create the conditions to bring the relationship back to a constructive and normal trajectory," the diplomat added. "I hope that in the future, there will be many traces of happy events rather than sad events in the history of our bilateral relations. Russia is ready to take that path, but we also need the same mindset from Korean officials," he noted.
History
The history of relations between Russia and the Republic of Korea is long and rich, the ambassador emphasized. The first bilateral commerce treaty dates back to 1884. "This is a relationship that did not begin 33 years ago when the two countries established diplomatic relations, but has been maintained for much longer," he said.
The Republic of Korea and DPRK were founded in 1948. South Korean authorities in relations with Western countries often refer to earlier contacts between European powers and Korea. The presidential administration said that South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol paid a visit to the United Kingdom in 2023, which marked the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. In 1883, a commerce treaty between the British Empire and Korea of the Joseon dynasty was signed.