OMM Redaksiyası
Ukraine is seeking to resolve tensions with South Korea after publicly disclosing that two North Korean prisoners of war had been handed over to Seoul. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha made the remarks on Thursday, October 1.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the handover during his address to the United Nations General Assembly last week. Seoul expressed displeasure, saying it had expected the information to remain confidential.
Kyiv calls situation a diplomatic misunderstanding
According to Ukrainian media, Sybiha told reporters he did not want to call the matter an incident and said it could be described as a diplomatic misunderstanding. He said he hoped the issue would be resolved soon and stressed the importance of relations with South Korea to Ukraine.
“South Korea is an important country for us,” Sybiha said. He added that Kyiv wanted to preserve the momentum in bilateral relations and achieve concrete results.
Seoul seeks explanation and apology
South Korea said the two countries had agreed to keep information about the handover confidential for security, diplomatic and humanitarian reasons, and called on Ukraine to explain and apologize. Seoul also accused Kyiv of unjustifiably denying that such a confidentiality agreement existed.
On September 28, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires and conveyed concern that the disclosure could damage trust between the two governments. Ukraine disagreed with Seoul’s account of the confidentiality arrangement, saying the sides had reached a mutual understanding about how the information would be disclosed.
Prisoners captured in Russia’s Kursk region
Ukrainian forces captured the two North Korean servicemen in Russia’s Kursk region in January 2025, after they had been sent to fight alongside Russian forces. They were the first North Korean servicemen captured alive after Pyongyang joined the war on Russia’s side in 2024.
Ukraine and South Korea estimate that North Korea has sent about 14,000 to 15,000 servicemen to support Russia. Zelenskyy said this week that more than 8,000 North Korean servicemen remained in Russia and that another 10,000 were being prepared for deployment.
