South Korean President Lee Jae-myung called on Ukraine to officially apologize for disclosing the fact that two North Korean prisoners of war were handed over to South Korea, threatening unspecified “additional steps” otherwise.
“Elchi” reports that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s speech at the UN General Assembly last week caused discontent in the Seoul administration, as Seoul had insisted that the handover process be kept confidential.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha assessed the situation on Thursday as a “diplomatic misunderstanding” and stated that Kyiv is trying to resolve the issue.
However, President Li rejected this approach, declaring that the matter is related to the “honor of the Korean people and nation.”
Dispute over the confidentiality agreement
The South Korean Presidential Administration stated that the demand to keep the handover process secret came from Ukraine; this decision was made to protect the families of North Korean soldiers and to prevent criticism that Kyiv missed the opportunity to exchange those soldiers for its own prisoners.
Zelenskyy’s office further escalated tensions by stating that no such confidentiality agreement existed between the two countries.
According to reports, the two soldiers sent to South Korea—who are among thousands of North Korean troops supporting Russia in the Ukraine war—had previously told local media that they wanted to go to South Korea.
Şayəstə