South Korea’s presidential workplace criticises Ukraine for denying POW nondisclosure settlement.
Printed On 27 Sep 2026
The South Korean president’s workplace has expressed “robust remorse” over Ukraine’s disregard for a nondisclosure settlement with Seoul within the switch of two North Korean prisoners of battle (POWs) to Seoul, South Korean media reported.
Final week, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in an address to the United Nations Basic Meeting (UNGA) that his nation transferred two North Korean POWs to South Korea.
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President Lee Jae Myung’s workplace “expresses robust remorse over Ukraine’s unilateral disclosure [of the transfer] and its subsequent false announcement that there had not been a non-disclosure settlement”, the Yonhap information company quoted Seong Ghi-hong, South Korea’s senior presidential secretary for public relations, as saying in an announcement on Sunday.
The workplace stated the nondisclosure settlement aimed to safeguard the troopers from risks they might face if their switch had been to be disclosed, in accordance with worldwide regulation and humanitarian ideas.
In line with Yonhap, a South Korean media outlet, the Ukrainian presidential workplace stated it had disclosed the switch of the POWs with out intensive particulars on the method, claiming that it could have been unusual to maintain the whole switch a secret. Ukrainian media shops reported a Ukrainian presidential supply as denying the existence of a confidentiality settlement with Seoul, Yonhap stated.
The South Korean presidential workplace stated the Ukrainian presidential workplace’s “false” denial of the confidentiality settlement “significantly hampers” bilateral belief and causes critical disruptions to bilateral friendship.
Seong Ghi-hong stated the federal government was contemplating extra measures over the problem, if mandatory, Yonhap added.
North Korean POWS
Ukrainian forces captured the 2 North Korean troopers in Russia’s Kursk area in January 2025.
Mounting proof, together with from intelligence experiences and testimonies of defectors, has indicated that North Korean troopers resorted to self-detonation or different types of suicide quite than be captured.
In his UN handle, Zelenskyy stated, “These guys should not straightforward to seize alive.” He added, “Certainly one of them, when he realised he was going to be taken prisoner, tried to kill himself. And he was shocked that destiny didn’t let him die.”
South Korean media reported that the 2 captured troopers had expressed their want to defect to South Korea.
The problem of North Korean prisoners of battle was a key matter throughout the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkiye, the place Lee met Zelenskyy in July.
Senior presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung acknowledged afterwards that each leaders agreed to resolve the standing of North Korean POWs in accordance with worldwide regulation. This constructed on a previous settlement reached throughout the South Korea-Ukraine overseas ministers’ assembly in March, the place each nations pledged to cooperate on the POW subject.
In line with South Korean intelligence, North Korea is estimated to have deployed roughly 14,000-15,000 troopers to assist Russia’s efforts in its battle with Ukraine since 2024, primarily within the Kursk border region. South Korean, Ukrainian and Western officers stated they suffered heavy casualties, with greater than 6,000 North Korean troopers killed within the combating.
The switch comes as South Korea has backed efforts to revive dialogue with North Korea, whereas United States President Donald Trump has renewed his willingness to have interaction with Pyongyang.
