South Korea has summoned Ukraine’s acting ambassador after President Volodymyr Zelensky last week announced his government had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to Seoul.
Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo lodged a formal complaint with Andrii Vieshkin and expressed “strong regret” that Zelensky had revealed the transfer, which Seoul says was supposed to be a secret.
The two North Koreans, who were among thousands of soldiers supporting Russia in the Ukraine war, had earlier told local media they wanted to be sent to South Korea.
President Lee Jae Myung called the disclosure “greatly disappointing” and said the transfer was a “highly sensitive issue” impacting national security.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry declined to comment when approached by the BBC.
In early 2025, Ukraine said its forces had captured two North Korean soldiers as prisoners of war in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
After more than a year of negotiations between Seoul and Kyiv, Zelensky announced they had been transferred to South Korea at the UN General Assembly last Wednesday – adding they had not been “easy to capture alive”.
Seoul confirmed the news but sharply criticised Zelensky for allegedly breaking an agreement to keep the transfer a secret.
This was partly to protect the North Koreans’ families, President Lee’s office said in a statement, which added that Kyiv also wanted the transfer kept secret to avoid criticism that it had given up an opportunity to exchange the soldiers for Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Lee’s office explained Ukraine had indicated the soldiers would be mentioned in Zelensky’s address, but not the fact of their transfer.
