Seoul Threatens 'Further Action' Over Ukraine POW Disclosure — SkimNews
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- South Korean President Lee Jae Myung threatened 'further action' if Ukraine does not issue a public apology for Zelensky's disclosure at the UN General Assembly that two North Korean POWs had been sent to Seoul, rejecting Ukraine's framing of a 'diplomatic misunderstanding.'
- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv is 'working' to resolve the row and described South Korea as 'an important country,' expressing hope for 'momentum, continuation, and concrete results' in the near future.
- Lee's office said it was Ukraine that requested the transfer remain secret — partly to protect the North Korean soldiers' families and to avoid criticism that Kyiv had squandered a chance to exchange them for Ukrainian POWs — a claim Zelensky's office publicly denied, saying no such confidentiality agreement existed.
- The two North Korean soldiers were among thousands deployed to support Russia's war effort in Ukraine, and had told local media they wanted to be sent to South Korea, according to the article.
- Lee escalated the dispute by accusing Kyiv of trying to 'bring war on the Korean Peninsula,' claiming Ukraine was 'talking about an imminent military clash between the North and South' rather than acknowledging the alleged agreement.
- South Korea's domestic politics are driving the hardline stance: Lee faced heavy opposition criticism at home after Zelensky's disclosure, with rivals accusing him of covering up the transfer to appease Pyongyang.
- Seoul's longstanding policy of not providing lethal weapons to any country engaged in active war remains intact despite South Korea's stated sympathy for Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion.
Why it matters: The dispute gives a public airing to the sensitive issue of North Korean troops fighting for Russia — something both Kyiv and Seoul would prefer to handle quietly — and it could harden South Korea's already restrictive stance on arming Ukraine, since the Lee government is now politically boxed in by domestic accusations of softness toward Pyongyang. The fact that it is Seoul, not Kyiv, escalating over a POW transfer they both supported reveals how much Korean Peninsula politics, not Ukraine policy, is driving the reaction.
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