South Korea summons Ukrainian ambassador over statements about North Korean POWs

South Korea's Foreign Ministry has summoned Andrii Vieshkin, acting ambassador of Ukraine to South Korea, after Kyiv announced that it had handed over two North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul.

Source: South Korean news agency Yonhap

Details: The ministry said that First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo conveyed Seoul's position to Vieshkin.

Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address to the UN General Assembly that Ukraine had handed over two North Korean soldiers captured in Ukraine's east to South Korea.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and his administration subsequently said that Ukraine had breached an agreement to keep the information confidential in order to protect the soldiers from danger, citing international law and humanitarian principles.

Shortly afterwards, Dmytro Lytvyn, communications adviser to Zelenskyy, denied that there was any confidentiality agreement with Seoul.

Park expressed deep concern over Ukraine's denial that there was a confidentiality agreement with South Korea, saying that such actions seriously undermine mutual trust and negatively affect friendly relations between the two countries, the ministry said.

The vice minister called on Ukraine to provide an official explanation and apologise for the move. The Ukrainian ambassador responded that he would convey Seoul's position to Kyiv.

The Office of the President of the Republic of Korea later demanded official explanations and an apology from Ukraine over the disclosure of information about the transfer of the North Korean prisoners of war who had fought on Russia's side.

Background:

• In 2025, the Ukrainian forces 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 was issued in the name of a real person from the Russian republic of Tyva (Tuva).
• Speaking at the UN General Assembly on 23 September, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had recently transferred two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea.
• He said that one of the North Koreans had tried to kill himself upon realising he had been captured, as this is how the regime's propaganda conditions people in North Korea.
• Zelenskyy also addressed representatives of 47 countries whose citizens Russia is using in the war against Ukraine, calling on them to look after these people and prevent Russia from dragging them into the war and sending them to fight on a foreign front.

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