South Korea Demands Ukraine Apology Over North Korean POW Transfer Disclosure

What changed

South Korea has summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires and demanded a government apology after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed that two North Korean prisoners of war had been transferred to South Korea.

Ukraine captured the men in Russia’s Kursk region in January 2025. Both later said they wanted to go to South Korea, which treats North Koreans as its own citizens. The transfer reportedly took place through a third country earlier this month.

Why it matters

This is now a dispute over trust, not just a humanitarian transfer.

South Korea says Kyiv asked for secrecy because revealing the men’s handover could draw criticism for abandoning a possible exchange involving “a large number” of Ukrainian prisoners. Seoul says it agreed to keep the matter confidential because of the men’s safety, their families and wider diplomatic and security concerns.

Zelenskyy’s UN speech changed that quiet arrangement into a public quarrel. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Ukraine had broken a non-disclosure agreement. A Ukrainian presidential adviser said no such agreement existed. Seoul’s foreign ministry says there was a clear understanding that the transfer would be handled confidentially; it has not said whether anything was written down.

That ambiguity is doing real political work. Lee’s approval rating was reported at 37.9%, and the dispute has handed critics in his own camp a reason to question continued support for Kyiv. South Korea pledged $100m to Ukraine in July, but it still refuses to send lethal weapons directly to countries at war.

The two men also create an uncomfortable problem for North Korea. Pyongyang has glorified soldiers who killed themselves rather than be captured. Two survivors choosing South Korea cut against that heroic story, even if North Korea says nothing publicly. South Korea says it has found no related developments and is monitoring the situation.

The immediate question is whether Seoul’s anger remains a narrow diplomatic protest or begins to reshape its cautious policy toward Ukraine. That will depend on whether Kyiv offers the apology South Korea is demanding and whether the disagreement over confidentiality can be contained.