South Korea Demands Apology From Ukraine Over Disclosure of North Korean POWs

A rift over two prisoners

South Korea has demanded an official apology from Ukraine after President Zelenskyy revealed at the United Nations General Assembly last week that Ukraine had transferred two North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul, describing them as "not easy to capture alive."

The disclosure caught South Korea's government off guard. Hours after Zelenskyy's remarks, President Lee Jae Myung wrote on social media that he did not know why Ukraine had made the matter public, calling it "very disappointing."

A formal complaint

On Sunday, Seong Ghi-hong, senior presidential secretary for public relations, escalated the response, formally demanding "an official explanation and apology." In a statement, he said the presidential office "expresses strong regret over Ukraine's unilateral disclosure and its subsequent false announcement that there had not been a non-disclosure agreement," adding that the episode "seriously undermines trust between the two governments." Seoul said it is "considering additional measures."

Who the two soldiers are

The two North Korean POWs were among roughly 14,000 North Korean troops sent to fight alongside Russian forces in the Kursk region starting in January 2025. Ukraine says about 3,000 of those troops were killed and 1,500 injured in the fighting there.

Under Article 3 of South Korea's constitution, North Korean citizens are legally considered South Korean citizens, a legal quirk that gives Seoul a direct stake in the fate of any North Korean captured on the battlefield, even one fighting for Russia.

A test for a cautious ally

South Korea has backed Ukraine diplomatically since the war began but has limited its material support to non-lethal aid, wary of provoking North Korea or complicating its own security posture. The dispute over how and when to disclose the POW transfer threatens to strain that already careful relationship, putting Seoul in the position of publicly rebuking one of the countries it has otherwise supported against Russian aggression.