South Korea says Ukraine breached secrecy deal by revealing transfer of North Korean POWs (UPDATED)
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung accused Ukraine of breaching a nondisclosure agreement by revealing that two captured North Korean soldiers had been transferred to South Korea.
Lee said Seoul and Kyiv had agreed to keep the transfer confidential because of its potential implications for diplomacy, national security and the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.
“I don't know the reasons for the disclosure, but I regret it,” Lee wrote on X, according to Yonhap.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed during his address to the UN General Assembly in New York that Ukraine had recently sent the two prisoners to South Korea.
Ukraine’s presidential office later said the transfer had been arranged through direct talks with Seoul and that Kyiv had disclosed only the fact that the soldiers were transferred, without revealing details of the process.
A South Korean presidential official said Seoul had been informed in advance that Zelenskyy planned to disclose the transfer. However, Ukraine provided only vague information and did not explain how the announcement would be presented, according to Yonhap.
UPDATE: Ukraine’s presidential office later disputed Seoul’s account, saying there had been no agreement to keep the transfer secret. “There was no agreement to remain silent,” presidential communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said.
South Korea had previously declined to confirm that the two soldiers had arrived in the country, citing potential risks to them and their families in North Korea.
Ukrainian forces captured the two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region in January 2025, where North Korean troops had been deployed to support Russian forces.