According to a report, South Korea will provide the US 500,000 artillery shells.

Reuters, - According to a South Korean publication on Wednesday, South Korea and the United States agreed last month to lend each other 500,000 155 mm artillery shells, which might offer Washington more freedom to send weapons to Ukraine.

Unnamed government sources were reported by the DongA Ilbo daily as claiming that South Korea chose to "lend" the ammunition rather than sell it to reduce the likelihood that South Korean rounds would be used in the conflict in Ukraine.

It said that the United States would fill its stockpile mostly with the borrowed shells.

The U.S. government requested to purchase the same amount or more of the shells in February after purchasing 100,000 rounds of them the previous year, but the South Korean government looked for another way to provide its ally with the ammunition.

After considering how to honestly respond to the blood ally's request while upholding government policy against giving Ukraine lethal weapons, it was reported that "we've chosen to significantly increase the volume of shells but take the rental method."

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 defense ministry of South Korea said that the allies were looking at methods to assist Ukraine in defending its freedom, but it would not confirm any particular conversations.

The American State Department was unable to comment right away.

According to Yonhap news agency, Foreign Minister Park Jin told reporters that he could not confirm the newspaper allegation but stressed that the government's stance against giving Ukraine deadly assistance remained the same.

The study, which followed the disclosure of highly confidential U.S. military papers, emphasized South Korea's challenges in balancing demands from its friends in the west to assist with the delivery of military supplies to Ukraine with its own policy of abstention from the conflict.

Despite being a significant artillery ammunition supplier and important U.S. partner, South Korea has tried to avoid enraging Russia due to their mutual economic interests and Moscow's leverage over North Korea.

Yoon Suk Yeol, the president of South Korea, has stated that his country has not sent Ukraine any lethal weaponry and would instead increase humanitarian supplies. Yoon Suk Yeol is now in Washington for a meeting with Joe Biden, the president of the United States.