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President Lee Jae Myung said South Korea would take additional measures if Ukraine continues to deny the existence of a confidentiality agreement on the prisoner transfer and refuses to apologise. In a post on X, the South Korean leader accused Ukraine of mentioning the possibility of an imminent inter-Korean military conflict in response to Seoul’s demands. Lee expressed serious regret, stating that Ukraine appeared to be hoping for war on the Korean Peninsula, according to Yonhap News Agency.
The dispute stems from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s disclosure at the United Nations General Assembly last week that two North Korean prisoners of war had been sent to South Korea. The soldiers were captured in January 2025 in Russia’s Kursk region after North Korea deployed thousands of its troops to aid Russian forces. They arrived in South Korea in mid-September following their expressed desire to settle in the South, Reuters reported.
Seoul has insisted that Ukraine requested the transfer be kept secret during bilateral consultations to protect the prisoners’ relatives in North Korea from reprisals and to avoid criticism for not pursuing a prisoner swap. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the matter a diplomatic misunderstanding in a Thursday interview and indicated that Kyiv was working to resolve the issue. President Lee rejected this description, emphasising that the issue involved the dignity of the Korean nation and its people.
The South Korean government summoned Ukraine’s charge d’affaires to the foreign ministry last week to demand an official explanation and apology. A senior Seoul official told Yonhap News Agency that Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and his Ukrainian counterpart have been discussing the content and tone of a potential response from Ukraine. These communications consider the various challenges Ukraine faces in its ongoing war with Russia.
North Korea has sent an estimated 14,000 to 15,000 troops to fight alongside Russian forces since late 2024, according to Ukrainian and South Korean assessments reported by Reuters, with many sustaining heavy casualties in the Kursk area. The two transferred prisoners represent the first known cases of North Korean soldiers captured in the conflict being relocated to South Korea. Ukrainian intelligence has documented the involvement of these troops in various roles, including combat and support operations.
South Korea has expressed sympathy for Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion but has refrained from supplying lethal weapons in line with its longstanding policy. The current row has damaged trust between the two governments, with Lee’s office describing Ukraine’s denial of the agreement as a serious issue. Foreign ministers from both sides remain in contact as Seoul awaits a formal response from Kyiv.
