South Korea to keep supporting Ukraine amid dispute over North Korean POW transfer disclosure

South Korea will continue supporting Ukraine “as a responsible member of the international community” despite a diplomatic dispute over the disclosure of two North Korean prisoners of war being repatriated to the South, a foreign ministry official said on Thursday. The official said Seoul would treat its help to Ukraine separately from the dispute, while continuing bilateral consultations to resolve outstanding issues. The remarks came after South Korean Ambassador to Ukraine Park Ki-chang was...

South Korea will continue supporting Ukraine “as a responsible member of the international community” despite a diplomatic dispute over the disclosure of two North Korean prisoners of war being repatriated to the South, a foreign ministry official said Thursday. The official said Seoul will treat its assistance to Ukraine separately from the dispute, while continuing bilateral consultations to resolve outstanding issues. The remarks came after South Korean Ambassador to Ukraine Park Ki-chang was recalled to Seoul on Saturday, following a spat over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s public disclosure of the transfer during his U.N. General Assembly speech on Sept. 23. The ambassador’s recall was one of several options Seoul considered after the disclosure, which it says breached a confidentiality arrangement intended to protect the soldiers and their families in North Korea. President Lee Jae Myung has demanded that Kyiv acknowledge the agreement and publicly apologize, warning of “additional measures” if it refuses. Kyiv has denied such an understanding existed. Meanwhi

For two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces in January 2025 while fighting for Russia, their recent arrival in South Korea, where they requested to go, offers freedom and the prospect of a new life. But for their families left behind in the North, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s public disclosure of the transfer may have heightened potentially life-threatening risks, experts said Wednesday. They say the relatives may already have become vulnerable when the soldiers' capture was made public in January 2025, but the Kim Jong-un regime's retaliation against them could be harsher after Zelenskyy disclosed the soldiers' transfer to South Korea during his U.N. General Assembly speech on Sept. 23. Forced relocation, loss of official positions and tighter surveillance are among the possible consequences cited by the experts, although the families’ whereabouts and any punishments remain unconfirmed. “North Korea probably had already banished the families to remote mountainous areas and stripped those in official positions of their posts,” said Ahn Chan-il, a North

The dispute between Seoul and Kyiv over the disclosed transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war (POW) to South Korea began with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's announcement of the move to world leaders on Sept. 23. "Recently, we sent two North Korean prisoners of war to the Republic of Korea," he said during his U.N. General Assembly speech in New York, referring to the official name of South Korea. President Lee Jae Myung wrote on social media the following day: "The Ukrainian side's decision to disclose the information in violation of a confidentiality agreement is deeply regrettable." He said the two sides had agreed to keep the transfer a secret because it is a "highly sensitive matter with significant implications for diplomacy, national security and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.” Yet Dmytro Lytvyn, communications adviser to Zelenskyy, in a statement on Facebook denied any such agreement existed. In a Sept. 27 statement, Sung Ki-hong, South Korea's senior presidential secretary for public communication, criticized the Ukrainian government's handling of the i

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy must answer for a damaging diplomatic disclosure, while U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand for new leadership raises difficult questions about Kyiv’s future. Zelenskyy’s increasingly strained relations with international partners highlight a fundamental problem of leadership: a country fighting for survival cannot afford to squander the trust of those whose support it needs. The Ukrainian president’s disclosure of the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war (POWs) to South Korea has triggered a serious diplomatic dispute with Seoul. His subsequent confrontation with Trump over Russian diesel supplies has further exposed the dangers of personalizing diplomacy and treating allies’ concerns as secondary to political messaging. On Sept. 23, Zelenskyy announced at the United Nations General Assembly that Ukraine had sent two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea. Seoul maintains that both governments had clearly understood the transfer would remain confidential because of the potential danger to the POWs and their families. K

South Korea is continuing efforts to resolve its recent diplomatic dispute with Ukraine while maintaining its demand for an apology from Kyiv over its disclosure of the transfer of North Korean prisoners of war (POWs) to Seoul, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. "The government hopes that all pending issues between the two countries will be resolved amicably," ministry spokesperson Park Doo-soon told a press briefing. "To that end, we will continue consultations with the Ukrainian side and are currently maintaining communication." The statement came after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the matter had been "resolved" in an interview with RBC-Ukraine on Monday (local time). "Everything stemmed from different interpretations of the confidentiality requirements at various stages of the transfer of the prisoners of war. Ukraine fulfilled all its obligations," Sybiha was quoted as saying by RBC-Ukraine. The report said Seoul was continuing to escalate the situation by recalling its ambassador, despite Kyiv's view that the dispute had been resolved. Asked whether Seoul's demand fo

SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is continuing efforts to resolve its rece...

Ukraine has denied Seoul’s claim that it apologized over the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to the South, blaming the diplomatic row on differing interpretations of confidentiality arrangements. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said in a briefing on Wednesday that Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha merely expressed “regret that the situation had […]