SEOUL - South Korea reached an agreement in March to lend the United States 500,000 rounds of 155mm artillery shells that could give Washington greater flexibility to supply Ukraine with ammunition, a South Korean newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The DongA Ilbo newspaper cited unnamed government sources as saying that South Korea decided to “lend” the ammunition instead of selling in order to minimise the possibility of South Korean shells being used in the Ukraine conflict.

It said the loaned shells would be used primarily by the US to fill its stockpile.

President Yoon Suk-yeol has said a South Korean law that forbids supplying weapons to countries engaged in conflict makes it difficult to send arms to Ukraine.

Having bought 100,000 rounds of shells in 2022, the US government had asked to buy the same amount or more in February, but the South Korean government sought another way to supply the ammunition to its ally.

“We’ve opted to significantly increase the volume of shells, but take the rental method after exploring how to respond to the request of the blood ally in good faith while sticking to the government principle of not providing lethal weapons to Ukraine,” an unnamed source was quoted as saying.

Both Seoul and Washington have previously confirmed that they were negotiating an artillery supply deal, but there has been no official word on whether any agreement was finalised.

The DongA Ilbo said the agreement was reached in March.

South Korea’s Defence Ministry said the allies have been exploring ways to help Ukraine defend its freedom, but declined to confirm specific discussions.

The US State Department did not immediately offer comment.

Foreign Minister Park Jin told reporters that he could not confirm the newspaper report, but said the government position against providing lethal aid for Ukraine remains unchanged.

The report came after leaked highly classified US military documents highlighted South Korea’s difficulties in squaring pressure from Western allies to help with the supply of military aid to Ukraine and its own policy of staying out of the conflict.

Separately, when asked at a parliamentary session on Wednesday if the US confirmed to South Korea that there was no spying on its presidential office, Mr Park declined to comment but said unauthorised wiretapping would be considered “problematic”. 

South Korea is a key US ally and major producer of artillery ammunition, but has sought to avoid antagonising Russia in the light of economic ties and Moscow’s influence over North Korea.

Mr Yoon, who is visiting Washington in April for a summit with US President Joe Biden, has said Seoul has not provided any lethal weapons to Ukraine and would expand humanitarian assistance instead.

The country’s assistance to Ukraine was included in classified documents leaked online earlier in 2023 and spotlighted in reports during the past week. 

In the documents, top South Korean presidential officials worried about a plan to sell artillery shells to Washington, saying they might be diverted to Ukraine despite Seoul’s argument that the US military should be the “end user”.

One leaked bulletin, marked “Top Secret” and seen by Reuters, said Seoul in early March “grappled with the US request to provide artillery ammunition to Ukraine”. 

Former national security adviser Kim Sung-han “suggested the possibility of selling the 330,000 rounds of 155mm munitions to Poland, since getting the ammunition to Ukraine quickly was the ultimate goals of the United States”, it said. 

Another leaked document dated Feb 27, marked “Secret” and titled “ROK 155 Delivery Timeline” said 153,600 rounds of 155mm rounds could be delivered to Ukraine in about 41 days by aircraft. 

Reuters was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the documents.

US officials have said some documents giving battlefield casualty estimates from Ukraine appeared to have been modified to understate Russian losses. 

Seoul and Washington were scrambling to contain the fallout of the leak, saying some documents were altered and untrue. 

Mr Kim Tae-hyo, South Korea’s deputy national security adviser, has said Seoul and Washington agreed that a “considerable number” of the released documents were fabricated. 

“A third party is involved in many parts of this issue, and there is no evidence that the United States, which is our ally, has done anything to us with ill intentions,” Mr Kim told reporters as he arrived in Washington on Tuesday to discuss Mr Yoon’s upcoming visit. REUTERS