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South Korea has formally demanded an apology and a full explanation from Ukraine after Kyiv publicly revealed that two North Korean prisoners of war had been transferred to Seoul, a disclosure that South Korean officials say violated a confidentiality arrangement between the two governments.
The dispute erupted after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used his address at the United Nations General Assembly last week to announce that his country had handed over two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korean custody. According to Seoul, that announcement was made despite repeated requests for secrecy and without adequate prior consultation.
Seong Ghi-hong, senior presidential secretary for public relations, issued a statement on Sunday expressing the presidential office's "strong regret over Ukraine's unilateral disclosure" and what he described as a subsequent false claim by Kyiv that no non-disclosure agreement had ever existed. Seong said Ukraine had discussed the transfer with South Korean authorities through multiple channels and had itself asked for confidentiality during those talks. The denial, he added, had seriously undermined trust between the two governments and risked damaging bilateral relations.
The two North Korean soldiers were captured by Ukrainian forces in January 2025, making them the first North Korean troops taken alive since Pyongyang began sending personnel to assist Moscow's war effort in 2024. North Korea is estimated to have deployed thousands of soldiers under a mutual defence treaty with Russia, with most of them stationed in Russia's Kursk region to help repel a Ukrainian incursion launched in August 2024. Ukraine initially seized significant territory in the border region but has since lost most of that ground.
In his UN speech, Zelenskyy described the capture of the soldiers as difficult, noting that one of them attempted to take his own life upon realising he would be taken prisoner and was stunned that he survived. He also sharply criticised North Korea's decision to send troops to fight alongside Russian forces, questioning why Koreans should die in a war against Ukraine and accusing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of treating his soldiers like currency in exchange for benefits from Moscow. Zelenskyy indicated at the time that he would be willing to hand the captives over to Kim if that could secure the release of Ukrainians held in Russian captivity.
Human rights organisations had pressed for the soldiers to be sent to South Korea instead, citing the risk of severe punishment they could face if returned home. South Korean media also reported that the two captured soldiers had expressed a desire to defect to Seoul, adding another layer of sensitivity to the case.
South Korea had previously declined to confirm the soldiers' arrival, citing dangers to the prisoners themselves and to family members still living in North Korea. That cautious approach was upended by Zelenskyy's public announcement, which caught the South Korean government off guard.
President Lee Jae Myung addressed the matter in a post on X, describing the repatriation of North Korean prisoners of war as a "highly sensitive agenda". He suggested that those who publicised the transfer with "enthusiastic fanfare" to showcase their achievements likely could not understand his government's efforts to keep the matter confidential, and might even question whether anything was wrong with that restraint. Lee said he did not know why Ukraine had violated the non-disclosure agreement but called the disclosure deeply regrettable.
The episode has also ignited a domestic political controversy in South Korea. Opposition politicians have condemned Lee's administration for failing to inform the public about the transfer. Ahn Cheol-soo of the People Power Party asked on social media whether it was fair that South Koreans learned about the presence of North Korean POWs in their country through Zelenskyy rather than their own government. He pressed the president on why the matter had been hidden, questioning whether the disclosure would have harmed Lee politically or whether there had been plans to send the prisoners back to North Korea.
The Korean Peninsula remains technically in a state of war, as the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. Thousands of United States soldiers are stationed in South Korea, and the two allies conduct regular military exercises that the North has long denounced as preparations for invasion. Any dealing with North Korean defectors or prisoners is therefore treated with extreme care in Seoul, where officials must weigh humanitarian considerations against the risk of provoking Pyongyang and endangering relatives left behind.
According to Ukrainian and South Korean estimates, roughly 14,000 to 15,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to support Russia's war effort, with most deployed to the Kursk region. As a close ally of Moscow, Pyongyang has also supplied substantial military aid, including artillery and mortar rounds, ballistic missiles, long-range artillery systems and multiple-launch rocket systems, according to Ukrainian and independent assessments. That support has deepened military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, alarming Western capitals and South Korea alike.
The two captured soldiers are expected to undergo questioning, though the source material does not detail what further steps, such as resettlement or possible prosecution, may follow. What happens to them remains a delicate question that touches on international law, human rights and inter-Korean relations.
For now, the immediate fallout is diplomatic. Seoul's demand for an apology places a rare strain on its relationship with Kyiv, which has generally enjoyed South Korean sympathy and support since Russia's full-scale invasion. South Korean officials appear concerned that the publicity surrounding the transfer could endanger the soldiers, complicate future cooperation on similar sensitive matters, and hand North Korea propaganda material. The coming days will reveal whether Ukraine offers the explanation Seoul is seeking, or whether the dispute deepens between two governments that have largely shared strategic interests in opposing Russian aggression and North Korean military involvement.
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