Seoul: Zelensky Disclosed POW Transfer to Win Arms Support — SkimNews
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- South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers on Sept 30 that Zelensky likely disclosed the POW transfer to "generate public support in Seoul for providing Ukraine with weapons and other forms of assistance."
- Seoul summoned Ukraine's envoy on Sept 28 and President Lee Jae Myung publicly expressed dismay hours after Zelensky's UN remarks, with Seoul arguing confidentiality was essential to protect the POWs' relatives from repercussions in North Korea.
- The two North Korean POWs arrived in South Korea from Ukraine in mid-September in "generally good health" after multiple confirmations of willingness to defect, according to lawmaker Youn Kun-young citing the spy agency.
- Lawmaker Yoo Yeong-ha clarified there was no leader-level agreement on confidentiality, but diplomatic officials from both sides had agreed to it — with Ukraine having "proactively requested strict confidentiality" over concerns about future prisoner exchanges with Russia.
- Ukraine captured the two soldiers in early 2025 among North Korean troops deployed to fight for Moscow; one told South Korean media he was conscripted at 17 and served in a reconnaissance unit, and both expressed a desire to live a "normal life" in the South.
- The diplomatic fallout risks complicating Kyiv's arms requests to Seoul, which has not provided lethal weapons due to a domestic ban but has been weighing defensive supplies since North Korea deployed troops to support Russia.
Why it matters: Seoul's diplomatic pushback signals a concrete cost to Zelensky's calculated disclosure: if the breach of trust hardens South Korea's adherence to its domestic lethal-weapons ban or delays even the defensive arms Kyiv is already lobbying for, it undermines a support channel at precisely the moment Ukraine is seeking to widen it.
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