South Korea denies supplying fuel to Russia

The response from presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung came a day after Vladyslav Vlasiuk, an adviser to the Ukrainian president on sanctions policy, cited a story in British newspaper The Guardian that over 176,000 tons of fuel were shipped from South Korea to Russia via sanctioned tankers in July and August.

Vlasiuk wrote on his Facebook page that the alleged findings run counter to South Korea's sanctions policy toward Russia and accused Seoul of helping offset Russia's fuel shortages amid the war with Ukraine.

"Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, our government has consistently implemented sanctions and export controls against Russia in close cooperation with the international community," Kang said in a written briefing, noting the government had made that position clear in response to The Guardian article.

"That a Ukrainian presidential official cited a Guardian article to publicly portray South Korea as helping ease Russia's fuel crisis and loss of refining capabilities and acting in a way that was inconsistent with its existing sanctions policy toward Russia, and did so based on individual transactions for which key details, such as the parties to the transaction, the country of origin and the ultimate purchaser, have not been verified, is different from the truth and inappropriate," she said.

The government is currently verifying the facts and plans to take necessary action in the event any problems are found, Kang added.

"We ask that Ukraine also refrain from distorting the relevant policies of the Republic of Korea without sufficient verification of the facts and making public remarks that can damage international trust (in South Korea)," she said.

An official of the presidential National Security Office elaborated that official trade statistics covering the period from August 2025 to August 2026 showed no exports of diesel, gasoline or jet fuel from South Korea to Russia. Moreover, such fuel is currently not included on a list of 1,402 items subject to South Korea's export controls with regard to Russia, the official said.