South Korea demands apology from Ukraine over disclosure of North Korean POW transfer
South Korea has demanded an official explanation and apology from Ukraine over the disclosure of the transfer of North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul, saying Kyiv violated a confidentiality agreement whose existence Ukraine denies.
South Korea's presidential office said Ukraine unilaterally disclosed the transfer despite a prior agreement between the two countries to keep the matter confidential, Reuters reported.
It also called Ukraine's subsequent denial that such an agreement existed false and said it had damaged trust between the two governments.
The dispute began after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly revealed during the UN General Assembly in New York that North Korean prisoners of war had been transferred to South Korea.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung later criticized Ukraine for disclosing the information, saying the return of North Korean troops was an extremely sensitive issue with implications for diplomacy and national security.
Lee said he did not know what circumstances had led Ukraine to disclose the information despite what he described as an agreement to keep it confidential, but called the move “very regrettable.”
Dmytro Lytvyn, an adviser to Zelenskyy on communications, denied that such an agreement existed.
“There was no such agreement,” Lytvyn said, adding that it would be wrong to conceal what happened to individual prisoners of war.
Neither side has publicly produced details of the alleged confidentiality agreement.