SEOUL, February 23 (Reuters) – South Korea has asked the Russian embassy in Seoul to take down a large banner reading “Victory will be ours” just ahead of this week’s fourth anniversary of the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the foreign ministry said.
The ministry said in a statement on Sunday that it had expressed its concerns to the embassy but did not clarify whether it had received a response.
The banner, about 15 meters (49.21 feet) long, with the same colors as the Russian flag and written in Russian, was hung on the outer wall of the embassy in central Seoul on Tuesday ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The banner remained in place Monday.
In a statement, South Korea’s Defense Ministry reiterated South Korea’s position that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was illegal.
The ministry also said military cooperation between Russia and North Korea should be stopped, saying it posed a serious threat to South Korea’s security and violated the United Nations Charter and United Nations Security Council resolutions.
According to media reports, earlier this month, Russian Ambassador to South Korea Georgi Zinoviev praised the role of North Korean troops in the fighting in Russia’s Kursk region.
Under a 2024 mutual defense agreement with Russia, North Korea sent about 14,000 troops to fight alongside Russian forces against Ukraine, and more than 6,000 of them were killed in Ukraine, according to South Korean, Ukrainian and Western sources.
The Russian Embassy in Seoul could not immediately be reached by phone for comment. An automated voice message said the embassy was closed due to a public holiday on Monday.
(Reporting by Kyu-seok Shim Editing by Ed Davies and Saad Sayeed)
