President Lee Jae Myung [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung on Saturday called the EU's decision to grant a sanctions exemption for Russian LNG exports from the Sakhalin II project to South Korea "welcome news."

Lee shared a news article on X (formerly Twitter) under the headline "EU grants sanctions exemption for Russian LNG exports to South Korea" and said he expected the move to "be a great help to the daily lives of the people and our economy at a time when uncertainty in energy supply is rising."

Lee also referenced his visit to Italy in June for the G7 summit, saying he had told EU leaders during their meetings that an exceptional allowance was necessary for South Korea's energy security and had urged them to give the matter their active attention.

He added that he would "continue to do my utmost to protect the lives of the people and national interests through airtight responses."

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Friday that the EU Council adopted its 21st package of sanctions against Russia on Thursday (local time), which includes an exemption provision covering South Korea's imports of Russian LNG.

Under the measure, EU sanctions on transportation, technical support, brokerage and financing will not apply to LNG produced from Russia's Sakhalin II project when shipped to South Korea or Japan through March 31, 2028.

Meanwhile, Lee departed Friday for a trip to the United States and South America. After arriving in San Francisco on Friday (local time), he held a series of meetings with CEOs of major tech companies and urged closer AI cooperation between South Korea and the United States.

Lee also attended the San Francisco AI Summit, where he said South Korea would "leap forward as a core nation in the irreplaceable global AI supply chain."


sang@heraldcorp.com