A Patriot surface-to-air missile is launched. [Yonhap]
A Patriot surface-to-air missile is launched. [Yonhap]

After asking South Korea to supply air defense systems including the Cheongung-II, Ukraine has now turned to Japan with a request for interceptor missiles and other air defense weapons.

Serhii Koretsky, Ukraine's newly appointed prime minister, called on Japan to provide Patriot surface-to-air missiles in an interview with Kyodo News published Monday. "There is only one thing I want to ask of Japan — ballistic missile interceptors," he said, adding that interceptor missiles are what Ukraine needs most urgently "to protect our people and energy infrastructure and get through the heating season."

Koretsky also said Japan's experience in infrastructure and energy development is "indispensable" to Ukraine's postwar recovery and reconstruction, and said Kyiv is in talks with Japanese companies on postwar rebuilding, energy and infrastructure development.

Despite the prime minister's public appeal, Japan appears unlikely to supply Ukraine with interceptor missiles.

Japan revised its Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and their operational guidelines last April, in principle permitting the export of lethal weapons. Previously, the principles had barred such exports. The revised guidelines, however, explicitly prohibit the export of lethal weapons to countries engaged in armed conflict.

For Japan to supply Ukraine with interceptor missiles, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi would need to make a political decision to that effect. Even if Tokyo were willing to export them, a defense equipment transfer agreement would first have to be concluded.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, who serves as the government's spokesperson, said at his regular morning news conference Monday that providing weapons to Ukraine is not feasible at this time. Regarding "weapons under the Self-Defense Forces Act" — those designed to kill or destroy — Kihara said Japan "is not considering their transfer at this point."

Exporting lethal weapons to Ukraine carries significant geopolitical risk, as Russia has designated such transfers a "red line" in its diplomatic relations with any country that does so.

Ukraine has repeatedly asked the United States and European nations for Patriot interceptor missiles, and more recently made the same request of South Korea, seeking air defense systems including the Cheongung-II. President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly stated on Aug. 9 (local time) that he wanted South Korea to provide air defense systems. He subsequently pressed Seoul on multiple occasions, warning that "the more combat experience North Korean troops gain in Russia, the more dangerous the situation becomes for South Korea" — pointing to North Korea's deployment of troops in support of Russia. South Korea has maintained its position that it "does not provide defense materiel to conflict zones under domestic law."


kate01@heraldcorp.com