Seoul to Implement Export Ban Against Belarus amid Ukraine Crisis | Be Korea-savvy

Seoul to Implement Export Ban Against Belarus amid Ukraine Crisis


This undated file photo shows ships carrying containers docked at a port in South Korea's southeastern city of Busan. (Yonhap)

This undated file photo shows ships carrying containers docked at a port in South Korea’s southeastern city of Busan. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, March 6 (Korea Bizwire)South Korea will ban exports of strategic items to Belarus starting this week as the former Soviet republic has been supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the finance ministry said Sunday.

The move came after South Korea decided to ban exports to 49 Russian organizations and firms last week, including Russia’s defense ministry. Under the measure, a license is required to export or transfer major items to these entities, with limited exceptions.

“As we have concluded that the Republic of Belarus has been effectively supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we have decided to implement the export ban on Belarus as well,” the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a statement.

The government announced restrictions against two Belarusian entities, including its defense ministry.

“We will promptly notify the United States of the decision and expand our support for South Korean firms and our nationals residing overseas that can potentially be affected by the measure,” the statement said.

South Korea’s exports to Belarus came to US$70 million in 2021, taking up only 0.01 percent of its total outbound shipments. Imports were estimated at $80 million, also taking up 0.01 percent.

The ministry also plans to provide legal consulting services to South Korean businesses that can face disputes with Russian counterparts, following the global move to remove Moscow from the SWIFT global payment network.

SWIFT is a high-security network that connects thousands of financial institutions worldwide.

(Yonhap)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>