SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Seoul has demanded a formal apology from Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed what he said was supposed to be a secret. transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war in South Korea.
Zelensky told the United Nations General Assembly Last week, Ukraine recently sent the men to South Korea, after capturing them during a flight. Ukraine-Russia battlefield early 2025. Both are among thousands of North Korean soldiers sent to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung quickly accused Ukraine of violating a nondisclosure agreement regarding the transfer. Ukraine has denied entering into such an agreement.
On Sunday evening, Seong Ghi-hong, Lee’s senior presidential adviser on public relations, expressed “deep regret” over Ukraine’s latest actions and demanded an official apology and explanation.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry summoned Ukraine’s ambassador to Seoul, Andrii Vieshkin, on Monday to protest what he described as kyiv’s “unilateral disclosure” of the transfer of the prisoners and its false denial that the two countries had agreed to keep the matter confidential.
Vieshkin said he would convey Seoul’s position to his government, the ministry said in a statement. Repeated calls to the Ukrainian embassy in Seoul for comment went unanswered.
Seong said Ukraine’s “false” refusal of the non-disclosure agreement was “an act that seriously undermines trust between the two governments and causes significant damage to the friendly relations between the two countries.”
Seong said the deal was reached because Seoul was concerned about the safety of North Korean soldiers and their relatives in the North, while kyiv was worried about possible domestic criticism for losing the opportunity to exchange them for North Korean soldiers. Ukrainian soldiers detained in Russia.
North Korean prisoners of war wanted to resettle in South Korea
While still in Ukraine, both soldiers stated in media interviews that they wanted to resettle in South Korea.
Seoul had called on Ukraine not to send them back to North Korea, where they could face persecution. The South legally considers the North part of its territory and has a policy of accepting and financially supporting North Korean defectors.
More than 34,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the end of the Korean War (1950-1953), most of them over the past three decades. Most were civilian women from the poorer northern provinces. Military defections are rare.
In his speech to the UN, Zelensky did not provide details of the transfer, but said that “one of them, when he realized that he was going to be taken prisoner, tried to commit suicide and he was shocked that fate did not let him die. This is how they raise people in the North.”
Some experts say Zelensky likely decided to expose the danger of North Korean involvement in the war in order to attract more Western aid.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s liberal government feared news of the transfer would trigger an angry response from the North and harm recovery efforts. diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington.
South Korea
refused direct military support to Ukraine
A growing arms exporter with a well-equipped, U.S.-backed military, South Korea has provided humanitarian aid and other support to Ukraine while joining US economic sanctions against Russia since its invasion in 2022.
However, Seoul resisted Kyiv’s calls and NATO will provide direct military support in Ukraine, consistent with a long-standing policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflict.
North Korea and Russia confirmed in April 2025 that their soldiers fought together to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia Kursk border region. South Korea, the United States and others say North Korea has also provided artillery, munitions and missiles to Russia in exchange for economic and military assistance.
South Korean intelligence estimated last year that North Korea had sent about 15,000 troops and 2,000 of them were killed.
Expanding cooperation with Russia has helped North Korean leader Kim Jong Un resist pressure from the United States and more confidently accelerate his nuclear weapons program. Last month, US President Donald Trump reduces a military exercise with South Korea in an apparent bid to restart diplomacy with Kim, but North Korea suggested that the step was not enough to convince him to resume negotiations.
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Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this report.
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