Seoul and Kyiv clashed after Ukraine disclosed at the UN General Assembly that 2 North Korean POWs had been transferred to South Korea.
The key issue is not the transfer of the POWs itself, but whether the parties had agreed not to disclose it and how disclosure could affect the safety of the POWs and their families.
The South Korean government demanded an apology and acknowledgment of the agreement, while Ukraine said it regarded the matter as a diplomatic misunderstanding and was seeking a solution.
3-Line Summary
1. 2 North Korean POWs were transferred to South Korea in September
2. The two countries have conflicting claims over whether the transfer should have been disclosed
3. Differing interpretations of the confidentiality pledge are at the heart of the dispute
UN General Assembly Disclosure Became the Starting Point of the Dispute
It was disclosed that Ukrainian forces had captured 2 North Korean soldiers who had been fighting on the Russian side and transferred them to South Korea. According to a Tagesspiegel report, the two were handed over from Kyiv to Seoul in September. n-tv reported that they had been held in Ukraine after being captured by Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region in January of last year, and that, according to activists, they wanted to live in South Korea.
The dispute erupted when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed the transfer during a speech to the UN General Assembly. The South Korean government believed that Ukraine had violated an agreement to keep the information confidential for the safety of the POWs and their families. Rather than the circumstances of the transfer, the issue between the two countries became how far a sensitive matter could be made public.
Between “There Was No Agreement” and “We Agreed to Keep It Confidential”
President Lee Jae-myung said on X (formerly Twitter) that the South Korean government could take additional measures if the Ukrainian government continued to deny the existence of a confidentiality agreement and did not issue a public apology. He described the matter as one involving the honor of the citizens and the state of the Republic of Korea. This did not mean that any actual measure had been finalized; it was a warning issued while demanding an apology and acknowledgment of the agreement.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the matter as a diplomatic misunderstanding rather than an incident and said that Ukraine was pursuing a swift resolution. The point on which the two countries’ explanations conflict is the existence of an official confidentiality agreement. South Korean lawmaker Yoo Young-ha agreed with Ukraine’s explanation that there was no official agreement, while also saying that diplomats from both countries had pledged to maintain confidentiality during their discussions.
According to his explanation, the situation involves differing interpretations of a documented intergovernmental agreement and a pledge of confidentiality made through diplomatic channels. The impact on future prisoner exchanges with Russia was cited as a reason Ukraine wanted confidentiality, but this was part of the conversation relayed by Yoo and no publicly available official agreement has been confirmed.
The POWs South Korea Considers Persons Under Its Protection
Under the South Korean Constitution, North Korean residents are regarded as South Korean citizens. The South Korean government has also stated that this principle applies to North Korean soldiers who became POWs in Ukraine. Alongside reports that the two wished to be transferred to South Korea, the matter is being treated as an issue concerning the personal safety of people whom South Korea considers to be under its protection, rather than simply as a prisoner transfer.
The most important change in this dispute is that the transfer of the 2 POWs has expanded into an issue of diplomatic trust. Seoul believes that the pledge of confidentiality was broken, while Kyiv has defined the matter as a diplomatic misunderstanding. Unless the difference between the two explanations is resolved, the dispute over disclosure of the transfer may remain.
References
Tags #SouthKorea #NorthKoreanPOWs #NorthKoreanMilitary #Ukraine #RussiaUkraineWar #Seoul #Kyiv #Zelenskyy #LeeJae-myung #UNGeneralAssembly #POWTransfer #DiplomaticDispute #Inter-KoreanRelations