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Seoul takes diplomatic step after the announcement

South Korea summoned the chargé d’affaires at Ukraine’s embassy in Seoul to the foreign ministry. The move came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the UN General Assembly last week that two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces had been transferred to South Korea.

South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo delivered the formal protest to chargé d’affaires Andrii Vieshkin. Seoul said the announcement had exposed a process that was supposed to remain confidential, while President Lee Jae Myung described the matter as highly sensitive and tied to national security.

Seoul said Zelenskyy’s remarks had damaged trust between the two countries and demanded an apology from Kyiv. Tensions escalated further after Zelenskyy’s office said there had been no confidentiality agreement between the two sides on the issue.

Why did the transfer of the two soldiers spark controversy?

Ukraine said it captured the two North Korean soldiers as prisoners of war in Russia’s Kursk region in early 2025. The men were reportedly among thousands of North Koreans sent to the area to fight for Russia, and local media had earlier reported that they had said they wanted to go to South Korea.

After more than a year of contacts between Seoul and Kyiv, the soldiers were said to have been transferred to South Korea. South Korean officials argued that keeping the information out of the public domain was intended both to protect the soldiers’ families and to avoid criticism that Kyiv might miss a possible prisoner exchange opportunity.

  • According to Seoul, announcing the transfer could create a security risk for the families.
  • South Korean officials say Kyiv was told only that the soldiers would be mentioned in talks, not that the transfer itself would be made public.

The dispute also sparked debate inside South Korea. The opposition has accused the Lee administration of concealing the transfer to avoid angering Pyongyang, while Lee’s efforts to seek dialogue with North Korea have so far produced limited results.

Weapons aid and regional balance lie behind the dispute

South Korea has taken a pro-Ukraine line since Russia’s full-scale invasion, but it has not changed its policy of not supplying lethal weapons to countries engaged in active war. After North Korean troops entered the battlefield in support of Russia in 2024, Kyiv increased pressure on Seoul and requested advanced air-defense missiles.

In July this year, Seoul announced a new $100 million aid package for Ukraine. South Korean officials said the support was an expansion of previously provided non-lethal assistance, including helmets, personal protective equipment and medical supplies.

Russia has warned that it would retaliate if South Korea supplies weapons to Ukraine. At the same time, Seoul does not want to sever ties completely with Moscow and Beijing, which it sees as actors that could influence North Korea. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry did not comment when asked by the BBC.

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