Seoul demands apology from Ukraine over disclosure of North Korean POW transfer

STANISLAV POHORILOV - 28 September, 07:09

A flag of South Korea. Photo: Getty Images

The Office of the President of the Republic of Korea has demanded an official explanation and apology from Ukraine over the disclosure of the transfer to South Korea of North Korean prisoners of war who had fought on Russia's side in the war.

Source: Reuters

Details: The office insists that there was an agreement to keep the matter confidential. It said that "Ukraine's subsequent denial that ⁠any confidentiality agreement existed was false and ⁠had damaged trust between the ⁠two governments".

Previously: South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said that Ukraine had breached a non-disclosure agreement by publicly revealing that two North Korean prisoners of war had been sent to South Korea, and that making this information public could lead to numerous problems.

Dmytro Lytvyn, communications adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, denied that Ukraine had breached an agreement with South Korea not to disclose information about the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war.

Background:

In 2025, the Ukrainian military captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk Oblast.
It later emerged that a fake military ID discovered on a captured North Korean soldier in Kursk Oblast had been issued in the name of a real person from the Russian Republic of Tyva (Tuva).
During his address to the UN General Assembly on 23 September, Zelenskyy mentioned that Ukraine had recently sent two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea.
He also said one of the North Korean soldiers had tried to kill himself after realising he had been captured, noting that this reflected the way people are indoctrinated in North Korea.
Zelenskyy also addressed the representatives of the 47 countries whose citizens Russia is using in its war against Ukraine, urging them to look after their people and prevent Russia from drawing them into the war and sending them to fight on a foreign front.

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