Why does Samsung still operate in Russia? Diplomat explained the position of the official Seoul.

Korean companies continue to operate in Russia

Companies Samsung and Kia Motors announced the freezing of their activities in Russia, but actually continue to operate in the country. This issue was officially conveyed by the Ukrainian side. The Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Korea, Dmytro Ponomarenko, spoke about this in an interview with «Glavkom».

The ambassador noted that since the beginning of the invasion, Korea joined the international sanctions against Russia. In particular, some Russian banks were disconnected from the SWIFT financial network, the export of strategic dual-use materials to the Russian Federation was prohibited, and investments in Russian treasury bonds and financial operations with the Central Bank of Russia and other Russian financial institutions and funds were suspended.

In response to the concluded agreement between the DPRK and the Russian Federation, Korea imposed sanctions against some legal entities, in particular Russian shipping companies and other vessels that transported military cargo between the DPRK and the Russian Federation. In addition, Korea restricted the export of industrial goods to Russia and Belarus.

The ambassador also mentioned the case of Samsung, which continues to sell equipment in the Russian Federation despite statements about ceasing operations in the country. It also became known that the Samsung Pay service stopped working with the Russian payment system «Mir».