Major arms exporter South Korea is not ruling out providing weapons directly to Ukraine, President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday, signaling a possible shift in Seoul's stance on the issue.

Yoon also revealed he had discussed North Korea with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump in a phone conversation that laid the groundwork for a meeting in the "near future."

South Korea has a long-standing policy of not providing weapons to countries in conflict but indicated that could change in light of Pyongyang's deployment of troops to Russia to aid its war efforts in Ukraine.