hankyoreh

A monitor at the Korean Security Agency of Trade and Industry in Seoul’s Gangnam District displays sanctions against Russia on March 7. (Yonhap News)

Russia included South Korea in its list of “unfriendly” countries in connection with the war in Ukraine.

According to Reuters and other news sources, Russia announced Monday that government approval would be required for all transactions with companies and individuals in “unfriendly countries.” Accordingly, the Russian government approved a list of countries that had adopted “unfriendly measures” against Russia, the reports said.

The list of unfriendly countries announced by Moscow includes Canada, the members of the European Union, Japan, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Ukraine, the UK and the US.

The measures come on the heels of a March 5 presidential decree on limited-time procedures for repayment obligations to overseas creditors. This decree temporarily allows Russian companies and individuals to use rubles to repay foreign-denominated liabilities to creditors in unfriendly countries.

Coming in response to the freezing of foreign exchange reserves and the plunging value of the ruble amid Western economic sanctions, the measures are a blow to South Korean companies and individuals who must now accept devalued rubles for liabilities to be paid by Russia.

Russian debtors must establish a special ruble-denominated account at a Russian bank to make liability payments to credits in rubles according to the exchange rate announced by the Russian government. The measures apply for the replaying of liabilities in excess of 10 million rubles per month, or roughly 88.5 million won by the current exchange rate.

By Jung E-gil, senior staff writer

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]