Seoul demands an apology as Kyiv denies a secrecy pact over prisoners
South Korea demanded an explanation and apology after Ukraine publicly disclosed that two North Korean prisoners had been transferred to Seoul. The South Korean presidency says the governments had agreed to keep the move confidential to protect the men and their families; Kyiv disputes that such an agreement existed. Their conflicting accounts have turned a completed transfer into a diplomatic dispute.
Geopolitics··Morning
Seoul asks Kyiv for an apology
South Korea's presidential office demanded an official explanation and apology from Ukraine on 27 September after the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea became public. Seoul says the two governments had agreed to keep the transfer confidential and that Kyiv broke the arrangement by disclosing it. Ukraine's presidential office denies that a secrecy agreement existed. The disagreement concerns the handling of a transfer that both sides acknowledge, rather than whether the men were moved. Neither government's account establishes the terms of an unpublished pact. South Korean officials say secrecy was intended to protect the soldiers and their families in North Korea from possible danger. The point at issue is not the prisoners' identity or a new capture. Seoul is challenging a public disclosure made after the men had already been transferred.[1], [2]
Zelenskyy's UN speech brought the transfer into view
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed the transfer in an address to the United Nations General Assembly. Kyiv's presidential office says it acknowledged the move without revealing the details of the process and argues that keeping the whole event secret would have been strange. Seoul rejects Kyiv's denial of a confidentiality arrangement. The two public positions leave the alleged agreement unresolved while explaining why an already completed handover has become a diplomatic dispute. South Korean presidential communications official Seong Ghi-hong said further measures would be considered if needed. That statement was a response to the disclosure; no additional measure was announced in the accepted account. Kyiv distinguishes acknowledgment of the move from disclosure of its operational details. Seoul's objection is wider: it says even announcing the completed transfer violated the understanding it believed had been reached.[1], [2]
The prisoners' status had been discussed for months
Ukrainian forces captured the two North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk region in January 2025. South Korean media reported that the men wanted to go to South Korea. The governments had discussed their status before the public dispute: foreign ministers pledged cooperation in March, and the presidents raised the issue at a July summit of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. After that meeting Seoul said the sides had agreed to resolve the men's status under international law. Zelenskyy said in his UN speech that one soldier had tried to kill himself during capture; that remains his account of the incident. South Korean intelligence estimates that North Korea has sent troops to support Russia's war since 2024, but the fresh dispute is over the transfer's disclosure and whether secrecy had been agreed. The earlier diplomatic contacts show that the men's status had been discussed before the UN speech. They do not, by themselves, establish what was agreed about publicly announcing a final transfer.[1]
