Seoul summons Ukraine envoy over North Korean prisoner-of-war row
Last week Zelensky revealed Ukraine had sent two captured North Koreans to South Korea - which Seoul says was meant to be a secret.
Seoul summons Ukraine envoy over North Korean prisoner-of-war row
South Korea has called in Ukraine’s acting ambassador after President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that his government had handed over two captured North Korean soldiers to Seoul.
Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo filed a formal protest with Andrii Vieshkin and voiced "strong regret" that Zelensky had made the transfer public, which Seoul says was meant to remain secret.
The two North Koreans, who were among thousands of troops backing Russia in the war in Ukraine, had previously told local media they wanted to be sent to South Korea.
President Lee Jae Myung described the disclosure as "greatly disappointing" and said the transfer was a "highly sensitive issue" affecting national security.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry did not respond when contacted by the BBC.
In early 2025, Ukraine said its forces had captured two North Korean soldiers as prisoners of war in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
After more than a year of talks between Seoul and Kyiv, Zelensky announced at the UN General Assembly last Wednesday that they had been transferred to South Korea - adding that they had not been "easy to capture alive".
Seoul confirmed the report but strongly criticised Zelensky for allegedly violating an agreement to keep the transfer confidential.
President Lee’s office said in a statement that this was partly to protect the North Koreans’ families, and added that Kyiv also wanted the transfer kept secret so it would not face criticism for missing a chance to exchange the soldiers for Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Lee’s office said Ukraine had indicated the soldiers would be mentioned in Zelensky’s speech, but not the fact that they had been transferred.
The dispute intensified after Zelensky’s office replied that the two countries had no non-disclosure agreement.
Seoul demanded that Ukraine apologise for "announcing a falsehood" and said the move had badly undermined trust between the two countries.
Lee came under heavy domestic criticism after Zelensky’s disclosure. The South Korean opposition accused him of concealing the transfer to placate Pyongyang.
Lee, whose party favours a conciliatory stance toward the North, has been trying to restart peace talks, with limited success.
Seoul has supported Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, but has refused to abandon its long-held policy of not supplying lethal weapons to any country involved in active war.
After North Korean troops were sent to support Russia in 2024, Kyiv increased pressure on South Korea to provide advanced anti-air missiles to help protect Ukraine’s energy infrastructure from Russian drone and missile strikes.
"When North Korea actively participates in a war in Europe, South Korea cannot remain a distant observer," said Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Zelensky.
"The transfer of defence technologies and capabilities from Seoul to Kyiv is not just about helping Ukraine; it is about South Korea protecting its own long-term security interests by containing the expansion of an aggressive totalitarian axis."
In July, Seoul announced a $100 million aid package for Ukraine. Lee’s office said this would expand earlier assistance made up of non-lethal items such as helmets, body armour and medical equipment.
Meanwhile, Russia’s foreign ministry has warned it would have "no choice but to retaliate" if South Korea supplied Ukraine with weapons, though it did not specify what action it might take.
South Korea has long maintained friendly relations with countries opposed to the US.
Since the Soviet Union collapsed, it has sought to strengthen trade and diplomatic ties with Russia, which borders North Korea, and sees both Moscow and Beijing as important partners in efforts to influence Pyongyang.