South Korea warns of ‘additional measures’ if Ukraine refuses to issue public apology over disclosure of POW transfer
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South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said Friday that Seoul would take “additional measures” if Ukraine refused to publicly apologize for what he called its unilateral disclosure of sending North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea.
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Seoul took a tough stance on Ukraine by revealing the transfer of two captured soldiers fighting for Russia, warning that their families could be targeted by Pyongyang.
North Korea is known to retaliate against defectors and their families.
The two prisoners of war are identifiable because they were photographed by South Korean media before their arrival in the South.
The POWs were captured by Ukrainian forces early last year after being deployed alongside thousands of North Korean troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, in exchange for economic and military assistance to Pyongyang.
Hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week revealed the transfer in a speech to the United Nations, Lee expressed dismay, with Seoul saying confidentiality was essential to protect the relatives of prisoners of war.
Seoul later demanded a formal apology from Ukraine, saying the two sides had reached a “clear agreement” during consultations to keep the transfer confidential.
“If Ukraine continues to refuse to acknowledge the facts and publicly apologize, we will take additional measures,” the South Korean president said on Friday, accusing kyiv of making him look like a “liar”.
“This is an issue that concerns the dignity of the Republic of Korea and its people and cannot be neglected,” Lee posted on X.
Analysts say that from South Korea’s point of view, keeping the POW transfer confidential may have been partly in Ukraine’s interests, because making it public could have complicated prisoner exchanges between kyiv and Russia.
However, in South Korean domestic politics, Seoul’s approach “could prove problematic,” said Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University, given the current administration’s accommodative approach toward the nuclear-armed North.
“The government has acted quickly in this matter involving Ukraine, while exercising extreme caution in the face of the North Korean landmine incident (which injured South Korean soldiers). This contrast could leave the public deeply dissatisfied.”
Diplomatic misunderstanding
Lee on Friday referred to an interview with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, published Thursday by RBC-Ukraine and other Ukrainian media.
Sybiha said he “wouldn’t want to call it an incident”, instead describing it as a “diplomatic misunderstanding”.
“South Korea is an important country for us. And I sincerely hope that we can achieve momentum, continued cooperation and concrete results with them,” he said.
Seoul’s intelligence agency said Zelensky may have disclosed the transfer of the North Korean soldiers to boost South Korean public support for Seoul’s arms supply to Ukraine, a lawmaker said Wednesday.
South Korea has become a major arms exporter in recent years, particularly since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, notably through a multibillion-dollar arms deal with Poland.
But it has refrained from supplying kyiv with lethal weapons, citing its long-standing policy of not arming countries engaged in active conflicts.
Additional sources • AFP
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