South Korea: siding with the west and distancing from Russia

South Korea’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been marked by Seoul siding with NATO, the USA, Europe, and, thus, Ukraine, and distancing itself from Russia. At the time of writing, South Korea is the only country in Asia to condemn Russia including in UN votes, impose sanctions on Moscow, provide aid and non-lethal military equipment to Ukraine directly, and, via third parties, transfer arms to Kyiv to fend off the Russian invasion. In other words, no other country in Asia has provided Ukraine with such a wide-ranging level of support. In this article, we answer the four questions set out by the editors of this special issue to understand how and why South Korea has reacted to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the way just described and regardless of the type of government in office.