President Lee Jae-myung on the 25th welcomed the European Union (EU) recognizing an exception to sanctions for exports to Korea of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia's Sakhalin II project, calling it "good news."
While touring the United States and South America, Lee said on X (formerly Twitter) that he had heard the "good news" that, regarding EU sanctions on Russian LNG, our corporations were recognized as exceptions to the sanctions, adding that amid rising uncertainty in energy supply and demand, this is expected to greatly help people's daily lives and Korea's economy.
Lee said that in talks with EU leaders on the 6th, he had explained that exceptional permission was necessary for our energy security and had asked for active attention, adding that going forward, with airtight responses, he would do his best to protect people's lives and the national interest.
Earlier, on the 23rd (local time), the EU Council adopted the 21st sanctions package against Russia, which includes an exception rule exempting sanctions to allow imports of LNG produced in Korea's Russia Sakhalin project.
Under this decision, when transporting LNG produced in Russia's Sakhalin II project to Korea and Japan, related EU sanctions on transport, technical support, brokerage, and finance will not apply until Mar. 31, 2028.
The government has asked the EU to apply a related sanctions exception so that there would be no disruption to LNG supply, as Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) agreed through a long-term contract for the Russia Sakhalin project to bring in 1.5 million tons (t) of LNG annually from Apr. 2008 to Mar. 2028.
Meanwhile, Lee departed on the 24th for a tour of the United States and South America. In San Francisco, he met in succession with big tech corporations' chief executive officers (CEOs) to discuss ways to cooperate on U.S.-Korea artificial intelligence (AI). He also attended the "San Francisco AI Summit," saying, "Korea will leap forward as an indispensable core country in the global AI supply chain."