South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned on Friday, 2 October, that Seoul would take “further action” if Ukraine continues to deny a confidentiality agreement concerning the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war and refuses to apologise. The dispute began after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly disclosed the prisoners’ transfer to South Korea during his address to the UN General Assembly last week.
Seoul maintains that Kyiv had agreed to keep the transfer confidential to protect the two prisoners and their families. According to the Independent, Lee accused Ukraine of undermining South Korea’s head of state and said the country’s “dignity” was at stake. He also criticised Ukrainian remarks referring to the possibility of a military confrontation between North and South Korea, warning that such statements invoked the risk of war on the Korean Peninsula.
Kyiv, however, has denied that such a confidentiality agreement existed and has sought to reduce tensions. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the dispute on Thursday (October 1) as a “diplomatic misunderstanding” rather than an incident. He said South Korea remained an important partner and expressed hope that the disagreement would be resolved quickly while cooperation continued.
The two North Korean soldiers were captured by Ukraine in January 2025, becoming the first North Korean servicemen captured alive after Pyongyang became directly involved in Russia’s war effort. North Korea has since deployed an estimated 14,000 troops to support Russian forces, while Zelensky said this week that more than 8,000 North Korean troops remained in Russia and another 10,000 were undergoing training for potential deployment.
The dispute comes despite existing cooperation between Seoul and Kyiv. South Korea has provided humanitarian and financial assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion and pledged an additional $100 million in non-lethal support in July.
Source: commonspace.eu with Deutsche Welle (Bohn) and The Independent (London).
