South Korea has summoned Ukraine’s acting ambassador after President Volodymyr Zelensky last week announced his government had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to Seoul.
Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo lodged a formal complaint with Andrii Vieshkin and expressed “strong regret” that Zelensky had revealed the transfer, which Seoul says was supposed to be a secret.
The two North Koreans, who were among thousands of soldiers supporting Russia in the Ukraine war, had earlier told local media they wanted to be sent to South Korea.
President Lee Jae Myung called the disclosure “greatly disappointing” and said the transfer was a “highly sensitive issue” impacting national security.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry declined to comment when approached by the BBC.
In early 2025, Ukraine said its forces had captured two North Korean soldiers as prisoners of war in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
After more than a year of negotiations between Seoul and Kyiv, Zelensky announced they had been transferred to South Korea at the UN General Assembly last Wednesday – adding they had not been “easy to capture alive”.
Seoul confirmed the news but sharply criticised Zelensky for allegedly breaking an agreement to keep the transfer a secret.
This was partly to protect the North Koreans’ families, President Lee’s office said in a statement, which added that Kyiv also wanted the transfer kept secret to avoid criticism that it had given up an opportunity to exchange the soldiers for Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Lee’s office explained Ukraine had indicated the soldiers would be mentioned in Zelensky’s address, but not the fact of their transfer.
The spat escalated when Zelensky’s office responded claiming that the two countries did not have a non-disclosure agreement.
Seoul demanded Ukraine apologise for “announcing a falsehood” and said its actions had seriously damaged trust between the two nations.
Lee faced heavy criticism at home after Zelensky’s disclosure. The South Korean opposition accused him of covering up the transfer to appease Pyongyang.
Lee, whose party takes a conciliatory approach to the North, has been making efforts to reopen peace talks, with little success.
Seoul has been sympathetic to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, but has refused to break from its longstanding policy of not providing lethal weapons to any country engaged in active war.
After North Korean troops were deployed to support Russia in 2024, Kyiv stepped up pressure on South Korea to supply cutting-edge anti-air missiles to help defend Ukraine’s energy infrastructure from Russian drone and missile attacks.
“When North Korea actively participates in a war in Europe, South Korea cannot remain a distant observer,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Zelensky.
“The transfer of defence technologies and capabilities from Seoul to Kyiv is not just about helping Ukraine; it is about South Korea protecting its own long-term security interests by containing the expansion of an aggressive totalitarian axis.”
This July, Seoul announced a $100 million assistance package to Ukraine. Lee’s office said it would be an expansion of earlier assistance which was comprised of non-lethal items including helmets, personal armour and medical equipment.
Meanwhile Russia’s foreign ministry has warned it would have “no choice but to retaliate” if South Korea provided Ukraine with arms, without specifying action it might take.
South Korea has long pursued cordial ties with its neighbours who may be at odds with its ally, the US.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has worked to deepen trade and diplomatic relations with Russia, which borders North Korea, and views both Moscow and Beijing as key partners in efforts to influence Pyongyang.
Additional reporting by Anastasiia Levchenko
