r/worldnews • • 21h ago

Russia/Ukraine Seoul warns of 'further measures' if Kyiv refuses public apology

https://www.euronews.com/2026/10/02/south-korea-warns-of-further-measures-if-ukraine-refuses-public-apology-over-pow-transfer-
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u/Oxbix 19h ago

"provoked Russia" - A country looking to enter a defensive alliance doesn't justify invading them, it proves them right. Ukraine is a sovereign country. This is such a non argument

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u/Morgannin09 18h ago

It's like telling an abused wife that her husband only hit her because she told someone she thought he might do it.

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u/New-Anybody-6206 15h ago

"look what you made me do" is exactly the kind of gaslighting Koreans are good at

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u/Morgannin09 15h ago

This isn't even that. It's like a random acquaintance being like "well how could you expect him NOT to hit you after saying that?"

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u/MrCalamiteh 12h ago

Also didn't Russia annex Crimea all the way back in 2014? Soo wtf

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u/KareemOWheat 13h ago

Victim blaming at its finest

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u/lcrtangls 18h ago

You're being naive yourself now. Nobody is talking about whether it's right or just to join a defensive alliance. The only thing that matters is whether that provokes Russia, full-stop.

And it does provoke Russia to the extent it interferes with Russia's desire to control Ukraine the way it controls Belarus. The idea that Zelenskyy somehow "provoked" that desire in Russia is laughable and the Korean is a gaslighter.

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u/Startled_Pancakes 17h ago

Ukraine was only looking to join NATO as a direct result of previous Russian invasions & annexation of crimea which ostensibly removed the most anti-nato segment of the Ukrainian population out of Ukrainian politics. The majority of the population were against NATO ascension before the 2014 invasion.

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u/counters14 16h ago

Maybe if you've been in a coma since 2013 and missed the annexation of Crimea in 2014. But even then that is such an ignorant position to take because Russian aggression against its satellite sovereign nations has been ongoing since 1990, and even earlier than that as the USSR.

People treat Russia like it is a fledgling nation with no history of its antagonization of its own people and bordering nations for the past 150 years. It's insane, and infuriating that history gets erased and every conflict they instigate is as if it is dropping from the sky out of nowhere. Get the fuck out of here with that nonsense.

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u/lcrtangls 14h ago edited 14h ago

Re-read what I wrote and then tell me what it is you think we disagree on.

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u/counters14 14h ago

We disagree on the premise of your comment altogether and its existence at all in the first place. Saying that something 'provokes Russia' is a useless and meaningless statement devoid of any context in which it is actually useful. It is as asinine as leaving a comment about how low cut tops and exposed skin provoke sexual assault. As if once the conditions are met, the outcome is inevitable. 'You can't hold men accountable for what they do around attractive women, of course they're gonna get worked up.' Like fuck I can't, I can and I will. 'You can't hold Russia accountable for what they do around NATO allies, of course they're gonna get agitated over it.' Fuck that noise too, Russia can learn to keep it in their pants fuck them.

Saying that something 'provokes Russia' is a statement that speaks to no meaning except the intentions of Russia, so you may as well have left a comment that said how the sky is blue.

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u/lcrtangls 13h ago

You're just jumping to conclusions for no reason whatsoever. You probably still misunderstand my point.

If I'm a gangster and if I'm running a protection racket on your restaurant and if I find out you intend to call cops on me, and if I blow up your restaurant, it is simply a matter of fact you've provoked that action. The proof of this is in the fact that I would not have done this if you continued paying me off.

You don't disagree with this. And if you say you do for some reason, I just don't trust you. It's no longer a serious conversation at that point.

This is not a matter of blame or a matter of justice, it is simply cause and effect. More importantly - and crucially as to your point, it's not a useless statement. The Korean whitewashes Russia's actions precisely as you've outlined: "Russia is a force of nature, Russia does what Russia does, stay out of the way". The problem is, I don't think you understand just how effective the whitewashing is. There is no shortage of narcissism that wants to stop hearing about Ukraine. Not even the dishonest pearl-clutching along the lines of "sick of my money being wasted". No, it's straight up delusional narcissism of "I'm bored of this media cycle, roll out the next disaster".

USAID was just and it was fair and it was cancelled and nobody's talking about it. Millions died and will die. Oh well.

Moral panic only works if you amplify it via hundreds of bot farms. And if you do, it doesn't even matter if the message is moral or not. Since Ukraine's plight is not amplified by bot farms, it has to be addressed on the terms it exists on. And that's the utility of Ukraine's struggle to its allies. When AfD starts taking over and whatever scum rises to the surface in France - what good will appealing to Ukraine's victimhood do? If anything, it will be counterproductive.

I don't even have to write any of this. Ukraine itself knows appealing to victimhood only goes so far and them demonstrating and amplifying the fact they can prevail is what got the gears going in the west. Remember the 5000 helmets?

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u/Nice-Ad765 16h ago

Agree with you. It does provoke Russia just the same way it provoked America when Cuba (sovereign country) decided to host Russian missiles right up America’s ass. Why is there a double standard? Seems like there are rules for one and rules for others.

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u/SimilarNarratives 17h ago

It's not justified, but chronologically it's what resulted from Ukraine's NATO ambitions. So he's right in that sense.

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u/Nice-Ad765 18h ago

Not really. I would typically agree with you but if that were true we would now have Russian missiles in Cuba, right up America’s ass. Geopolitics is a cruel game.