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UN Secretary-General António Guterres walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following a post-summit press conference on April 28, while Guterres visited Kyiv. (Yonhap News)

On Friday, the South Korean government said it means to give Ukraine US$50 million of additional aid and to reopen its embassy in Kyiv.

“Considering that the area around Kyiv has recently been stabilized, embassy staff are planning to return to Kyiv today or tomorrow to aid cooperation with the Ukrainian government and to protect Koreans overseas,” a spokesperson for South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

“The exact timing of the return will be decided by the local head of the embassy while placing the greatest priority on the safety of our embassy staff,” the ministry added.

Seoul’s decision to return embassy staff to Kyiv seems to mirror trends in the international community. The EU and 20 countries, including Poland, have already sent embassy staff back to Kyiv, and the US has announced plans to do the same within the next few weeks.

Korea had relocated embassy staff to Chernivtsi, a city in western Ukraine, on March 2 after the fighting reached Kyiv.

The government also said it had decided to provide US$50 million in additional aid through the NATO-Ukraine trust fund, which it is currently deliberating internally.

“Aid through the trust fund is generally used to provide non-combat military supplies,” the government noted.

That will bring the Korean government’s aid to Ukraine thus far to US$100 million, including US$50 million that has already been pledged or delivered.

With its announcement of more aid for Ukraine, Seoul appears to be following the lead of US President Joe Biden, who asked Congress to approve US$33 billion in additional aid to Ukraine on Thursday.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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