South Korea has demanded an official explanation and apology from Ukraine after President Vladimir Zelensky publicly revealed the secret transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers to Seoul, a disclosure the South Korean government says breached an agreed confidentiality arrangement.
The dispute intensified after Zelensky announced during his September 23 address to the UN General Assembly that Ukraine had recently transferred the two prisoners to South Korea. Referring to their capture, he said it had been “not easy to capture them alive.”
Seoul says the announcement should never have been made public. Senior presidential secretary for public relations Seong Ghi-hong said Ukraine had itself sought secrecy surrounding the arrangement and accused Kiev of subsequently denying that any confidentiality agreement existed.
“We express strong regret over the Ukrainian government’s unilateral disclosure in violation of the confidentiality agreement, and its subsequent false public statement denying the existence of an agreement, and demand an official explanation and apology,” Seong said.
He added that South Korea was considering unspecified “further necessary measures” in response.
According to Seoul, discussions over the prisoners took place through several diplomatic channels. Ukraine reportedly wanted the transfer kept confidential because of concern that surrendering custody of the North Korean soldiers could attract domestic criticism, particularly if the men might otherwise have been used in a prisoner exchange involving captured Ukrainians.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung also sharply criticised Zelensky’s decision to make the transfer public, describing the issue as highly sensitive because of its implications for security on the Korean Peninsula. Lee said the breach of confidentiality was “deeply regrettable” and accused the Ukrainian leader of placing short-term political considerations ahead of broader national interests.
Defending Seoul’s decision to maintain secrecy, Lee separately warned that those who endanger lives, national security and the national interest for political advantage could be described as “killers or traitors.”
Ukraine has disputed Seoul’s account. Zelensky adviser Dmitry Litvin insisted that “there was no agreement to remain silent,” while a source within the Ukrainian presidential office argued that Ukrainians were entitled to know what happened to prisoners captured by their forces.
However, Oksana Torop, a media adviser to Ukraine’s former commander-in-chief and current ambassador to Britain, Valery Zaluzhny, contradicted that position. She said a confidentiality agreement had existed and criticised Zelensky’s disclosure as a “show” driven by “exaggerated publicity.”
The two North Korean soldiers had been captured after Pyongyang deployed troops to assist Russian forces during fighting connected with Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region in 2024-25. What had been handled as a sensitive and confidential transfer has now developed into a public diplomatic dispute between Seoul and Kiev.
