THE country’s presidential office has demanded an apology from Ukraine for denying an agreement to keep the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul confidential.
The row was ignited by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s disclosure last week that his country had sent two North Korean soldiers to the South.
The intensifying dispute risks complicating Kyiv’s efforts to obtain weapons from allies, including South Korea, to fight off bombardments from Russia.
Hours after Zelenskyy’s disclosure, South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung criticised the action.
“I do not know why the Ukrainian side broke the agreement and made the matter public, but it is very disappointing,” he wrote on X.
Zelenskyy’s aide Dmytro Lytvyn sought to play down the disclosure, saying that the president had only made public the fact that the soldiers were handed to South Korea.
Ukraine is an “open country”, added Lytvyn, saying that it would be unusual to hand over the soldiers in secret.
Seong Ghi-hong, senior presidential secretary for public relations, said in a statement late Sunday that South Korea was “considering additional measures that may be necessary regarding this matter”.
“It is in itself a very serious matter that the Ukrainian side violated the confidentiality agreement between the two countries and made the disclosure unilaterally. But the Ukrainian presidential press office’s false statement that there had been no confidentiality agreement ... seriously undermines trust between the two governments and gravely damages friendly relations between the two countries.”
The South Korean Presidential office demands “an official explanation and apology”, said Seong.
Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha Womans University, said Kyiv’s disclosure may have sparked concern in Seoul that it could feed into Pyongyang’s hostility towards South Korea.
Lee has reversed the stance of his hawkish predecessor Yoon Suk-yeol since taking power in June 2025, offering nuclear-armed Pyongyang talks without preconditions.
The South Korean President “appears to be taking a ‘low-key’ approach, as he is mindful of a possible backlash from North Korea,” said Park.
“North Korea has been using the deployed soldiers to create a heroic narrative for regime propaganda, and the South Korean government appears concerned that confirming the prisoners’ return to the South and publicising it could further fuel hostility towards Seoul,” he said. — AFP
