Ukraine needs shells. South Korea has millions. Will a Nato summit deal deliver?

One of the most influential people attending the Nato summit leads a country that is not a member. Yet it holds vast stores of weapons sought by the bloc to help Ukraine fight off Russia, and perhaps tip the battle in Kyiv’s favour.

Ukraine needs artillery shells. South Korea has millions, and there is a push to convince its President Yoon Suk-yeol to change a government policy that prohibits Seoul from sending lethal aid to countries at war.

Yoon is attending the transatlantic security alliance’s summit this week for the third time, but this visit is different. Just weeks before it opened, his government said a defence pact signed between Russia and North Korea in June has made it consider whether it’s time to start sending weapons to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces.

Zelensky, who has been seeking weapons from South Korea since Russia’s full-scale invasion started in 2022, will be attending the summit in Washington aimed at proving that Nato is as strong as ever in its 75th year. He is expected to speak at a meeting of the Indo-Pacific Four partners – Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea – the Yomiuri newspaper reported, where he could again lay out his case for weapons.

Apart from the appeals from Zelensky, leaked intelligence obtained by The New York Times last year indicates Washington has been seeking to have Yoon send artillery to help Ukraine. Yoon’s aides were worried about pressure from US President Joe Biden, a document showed, and the Yoon government has denied the claims.