South Korea demands a formal apology and explanation from Ukraine after President Zelenskyy publicly revealed a confidential transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers to Seoul, exposing a rift between two key U.S. allies.
South Korea has formally demanded an official apology and explanation from Ukraine after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly revealed a transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul that South Korean officials say was meant to remain secret. The dispute, which escalated over the weekend, has opened a rare and awkward rift between two governments that both count the United States as their most important security partner.
At issue is a decision by Kyiv to hand over two captured North Korean soldiers, the first such prisoners taken alive since Pyongyang began sending troops to fight alongside Russia. Seoul says it had worked with Ukraine for months on the transfer under an agreement to keep it confidential. Zelenskyy's announcement at the United Nations General Assembly last week, South Korean officials say, broke that understanding and then denied it ever existed.
Seong Ghi-hong, senior presidential secretary for public relations, said the president's office registered "strong regret over Ukraine's unilateral disclosure and its subsequent false announcement that there had not been a non-disclosure agreement." He said Ukraine had repeatedly discussed the prisoners' transfer with Seoul through multiple channels and had itself requested secrecy.
The denial, Seong added, had seriously damaged trust between the two governments and could harm their broader relationship at a moment when both are contending with Russian and North Korean pressure. Kyiv, for its part, has maintained that no confidentiality agreement was ever in place.
The two North Koreans were captured in Russia's Kursk region in January 2025. They became the first North Korean soldiers taken alive since Pyongyang began aiding Moscow's war effort in 2024 under a mutual defense treaty with Russia.
Zelenskyy described the men in his address to the General Assembly, noting that one tried to take his own life when he realized he was about to be captured. He condemned North Korea's decision to send troops at all, arguing that leader Kim Jong Un was using his own soldiers as bargaining chips in exchange for Russian support. Human rights groups had pressed for the men to be resettled in South Korea, warning of the punishment that awaited them if they were returned. South Korean media reported that the two soldiers wanted to defect to Seoul.
South Korea had declined to confirm the prisoners' arrival for weeks, citing the safety of the men and of family members still living in North Korea. Seoul's relationship with Pyongyang is still governed by the 1950-1953 armistice rather than a peace treaty, and the two Koreas remain technically at war. Announcing defections publicly can expose the relatives of defectors to retaliation and complicate already delicate inter-Korean calculations.
President Lee Jae Myung made that calculation plain. In a post on X, he called the repatriation of North Korean prisoners a "highly sensitive agenda" and criticized those who "advertised the repatriation to the whole world with enthusiastic fanfare to show off their achievements" without regard for the consequences. "I do not know the reasons behind Ukraine's disclosure in violation of the non-disclosure agreement, but it is deeply regrettable," Lee wrote.
The episode also underscores how deeply North Korea is now entangled in the Ukraine war. Pyongyang has supplied Moscow with artillery and mortar rounds, ballistic missiles, long-range artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and Ukrainian and South Korean estimates put the number of North Korean troops deployed at roughly 14,000 to 15,000, most sent to Kursk to blunt a Ukrainian incursion. That assistance has drawn Kyiv and Seoul into closer cooperation, and it follows the pattern of foreign arms support that has defined the war, including the North Korean missiles that have repeatedly struck Ukrainian cities.
The secrecy did not sit well with everyone in Seoul. Opposition figures accused Lee's government of hiding the transfer from the Korean public. Ahn Cheol-soo of the People Power Party asked on social media whether it was "fair" that South Koreans learned about North Korean prisoners on their soil from a foreign leader, and pressed Lee on why the matter had been concealed.
The two soldiers are expected to undergo questioning and security screening before South Korean authorities decide whether to grant them protection and begin resettlement procedures. Seoul's Ministry of Unification said it would move forward with that process.
South Korea has asked for a formal apology, and how Kyiv responds will determine whether a dispute between two partners of Washington settles quickly or lingers. Both governments share an interest in denying North Korea's deepening partnership with Russia any further momentum, which gives them reason to repair the breach. But trust, once publicly questioned, is slow to rebuild.
For now, the two most immediate questions are whether Ukraine will acknowledge the confidentiality arrangement South Korea insists existed, and what fate awaits two young soldiers who never expected to choose between Seoul and Pyongyang.
South Korea demands a formal apology and explanation from Ukraine after President Zelenskyy publicly revealed a confidential transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers to Seoul, exposing a rift between two key U.S. allies.
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