Seoul criticises Kyiv over disclosure of North Korean POW transfer
South Korea says Ukraine’s disclosure and denial of a confidentiality agreement have damaged bilateral trust; the accounts remain unresolved.
South Korea’s presidential office has expressed “strong regret” over Ukraine’s public disclosure that two North Korean prisoners of war were transferred to Seoul, and Ukraine’s subsequent dispute that a nondisclosure agreement existed.
The office said the disclosure and denial had seriously harmed bilateral trust. It said it was considering further measures if necessary.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the transfer during an address to the United Nations General Assembly the previous week. South Korea says an agreement was intended to protect the soldiers from risks associated with making the transfer public. Ukrainian media, citing a presidential source, reported Kyiv’s denial that such an agreement existed. The available information does not resolve the competing accounts.
Ukrainian forces captured the two soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region in January 2025. South Korean and Ukrainian officials had previously agreed to address the prisoners’ status under international law, following discussions between the countries’ foreign ministers in March and a meeting between their leaders in July.
South Korean media reported that the soldiers wanted to defect to South Korea. That account has not been independently established in the material available.
