Seoul accused Kyiv of breaching a nondisclosure deal after Ukrainian officials announced the transfer of two captured soldiers.
South Korea’s presidential office criticized Ukraine on Sunday for disclosing the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul, saying Kyiv breached a nondisclosure agreement.
The dispute followed an address last week to the United Nations General Assembly, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country had transferred two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea.
Dispute over confidentiality
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s office expressed “strong regret over Ukraine’s unilateral disclosure [of the transfer] and its subsequent false announcement that there had not been a non-disclosure agreement”, senior presidential secretary for public relations Seong Ghi-hong said in a statement reported by the Yonhap news agency.
Seoul said the agreement was designed to protect the soldiers from danger under international law and humanitarian principles. South Korean officials stated that Ukraine’s denial “seriously hampers” bilateral trust, and Seong said South Korea is considering additional measures if necessary.
Ukraine’s presidential office stated that it revealed the transfer without extensive details because keeping the entire matter secret would have been strange, according to Yonhap. Ukrainian media outlets also reported that a Ukrainian presidential source denied the existence of any confidentiality agreement with Seoul.
Soldiers captured in Kursk
Ukrainian forces captured the two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region in January 2025. South Korean media reported that both men expressed a desire to defect to South Korea.
During his address at the United Nations, Zelenskyy described the difficulty of taking North Korean troops alive, citing intelligence reports and defector testimonies showing soldiers resorted to suicide to avoid capture. “These guys are not easy to capture alive,” Zelenskyy said. “One of them, when he realised he was going to be taken prisoner, tried to kill himself. And he was shocked that fate did not let him die.”
The status of North Korean prisoners of war was previously discussed by Lee and Zelenskyy at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkiye, in July, following a preliminary agreement between the two nations’ foreign ministers in March.
South Korean intelligence estimates that North Korea has sent roughly 14,000 to 15,000 troops to back Russia in the war since 2024, mostly in the Kursk area. Officials from South Korea, Ukraine and Western governments said North Korean forces have suffered heavy losses, with more than 6,000 killed in action.
