US confirms talks with Korean ammunitions maker over sales deal

• Published date: 01 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed that Washington has been in discussions over the sales of ammunition to the United States by a Korean non-government industrial defense company, as Seoul maintains the position of withholding provision of lethal weaponry to Ukraine.

U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson Martin Meiners told Voice of America, Tuesday (local time) that, "the U.S. government has been in discussions about the potential sales of ammunition to the United States by the Republic of Korea non-government industrial defense base."

The comments came after Korea's Ministry of National Defense spokesperson said, "A Korean company is in discussions with the U.S. defense department over exporting ammunition." He was responding to a question about the ministry's stance regarding the Ukrainian Ambassador's recent request for Korea to provide lethal weapons to help in its fight against invading Russian forces.

Ambassador Dmytro Ponomarenko on Monday expressed Kyiv's hope that the Korean government can find a solution that will enable it to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine, specifying that his country needs NATO's 155-millimeter standard artillery shells.

In November last year, the U.S. imported 100,000 rounds of...