The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy calls on the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea Lee Nak-yeon to introduce a visa-free regime between South Korea and Ukraine
On December 13, 2018, during his official visit to the Republic of Korea, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy met with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea Lee Nak-yeon.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Prime Minister congratulated
the Chairman and members of the Ukrainian parliamentary delegation
on the 100th anniversary of
the declaration of independence of the Ukrainian
People’s Republic.
Andriy Parubiy noted that Ukraine and Korea are very similar with each other. "We have a similar history, but Korea now sets an example for Ukraine – with having a constant military threat, Korea has managed to go through reforms and become one of the world's leading economies," said A.Parubiy.
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy informed the Prime Minister of Korea about the continuing Russian aggression against Ukraine; he described, in particular, the act of open military aggression of Russian war ships and aviation against the vessels of the Naval Forces of Ukraine in the Kerch Strait. "The Kerch Strait attack is not only an aggression against Ukraine - it is a challenge for the entire civilized world".
With this in view, the Parliament’s Speaker Andriy Parubiy called on the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea Lee Nak-yeon to ensure that the Korean delegation to the United Nations would support the draft resolution of the UN General Assembly "On the militarization of the Crimea, Sevastopol and occupation of Azov" during the voting on December 17, 2018. According to him, this resolution was prepared by some forty countries, including the United States and Australia. "In fact, after the hostile acts of the Russian Federation in the Sea of Azov, this is especially topical to us. That is why we had started our conversation from the issue of security, and then we switched over to economic questions," he explained.
Andriy Parubiy underscored that despite the Russian military invasion, Ukraine is conducting reforms in nearly all spheres of social life. "Ukraine’s reforms open up great opportunities for cooperation between Ukraine and Korea," said the head of parliament. Among the cooperation priorities for Ukraine and Korea, A. Parubiy named it to be IT and agrarian sectors as well as space industry. "Ukraine can become a broad avenue and intermediary for Korean exports to European markets," concluded the politician.
According to the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine and Korea must remove all barriers on this pathway. With this in mind, he then called on the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea to cancel visas for Ukrainian citizens entering South Korea.
At the end of the meeting, the Verkhovna Rada Chairman invited the Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon to pay an official visit to Ukraine.