Seoul demands apology after Ukraine ‘violated’ confidentiality agreement on transfer of North Korean prisoners of war
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South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s office demanded an apology from Ukraine for refusing a deal to keep confidential the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war from its territory to Seoul.
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The row was sparked by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s revelation last week that his country had sent two North Korean soldiers to the South, adding that they were “not easy to capture alive.”
The intensifying conflict risks complicating kyiv’s efforts to obtain weapons from its allies, including South Korea, to combat Russian bombing.
Hours after Zelensky’s revelation, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung criticized the action.
“I don’t know why the Ukrainian side broke the agreement and made the matter public, but it is very disappointing,” he wrote on X.
Zelensky’s aide Dmytro Lytvyn sought to downplay the revelation, saying the president had only made public the fact that the soldiers had been handed over to South Korea. Ukraine is an “open country”, Lytvyn stressed, saying it would be “unusual” to hand over the soldiers in secret.
But Seoul condemned it as a breach of trust.
Seong Ghi-hong, presidential secretary for public relations, said in a statement Sunday that South Korea was “considering additional measures that may be necessary regarding this issue.”
“The fact that the Ukrainian side violated the confidentiality agreement between the two countries and disclosed it unilaterally is in itself a very serious matter,” he said.
“But the false statement by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office that there was no confidentiality agreement seriously undermines the trust between the two governments and seriously undermines the friendly relations between the two countries,” he added.
South Korea’s presidential office is demanding “an official explanation and apology,” Seong said.
Ukraine captured two North Korean soldiers among Pyongyang’s troops fighting for Moscow early last year. One said he had served in a reconnaissance unit and that while some North Korean soldiers had been trained to use Russian military equipment, this was not the case.
The soldier said he was drafted into the army at the age of 17 and had been serving since then. A South Korean lawmaker previously said the two wanted to live a “normal life” in the south of the peninsula.
Analysts say Lee Jae Myung’s angry reaction to the confidentiality agreement risks triggering intense rows with the nuclear-armed North, which could translate into increased hostility toward Seoul.
“North Korea is using the deployed soldiers to create a heroic narrative for regime propaganda, and the South Korean government appears concerned that confirming and publicizing the prisoners’ return to the South could fuel further hostility toward Seoul,” said Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha Women’s University.
Beyond the ramifications in South Korea, the conflict also risks complicating kyiv’s demands on the ally for arms supplies.
South Korea has so far not supplied lethal weapons to Ukraine, citing a domestic ban on militarily assisting countries at war. Nonetheless, it was considering requests for defensive weapons, especially since North Korea had deployed troops to support Russia.
Additional sources • AFP
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