Seoul Demands an Apology From Kyiv Over Two North Korean Prisoners: How a Secret Handover Became a Diplomatic Row

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Friday that Seoul will take “further measures” against Ukraine unless Kyiv publicly apologises for revealing that it had sent two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea. The warning, posted on X and reported by the Korea Herald, came nine days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky disclosed the transfer from the podium of the UN General Assembly.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, has so far called the row a “diplomatic misunderstanding.” Seoul says there was a confidentiality agreement and that Kyiv then denied it existed. The two foreign ministers are, according to a South Korean official, still trading messages about the wording of a joint announcement.

Lee has moved from regret in the days after the speech to an ultimatum on 2 October. Seoul’s case rests less on the transfer than on Kyiv’s later denial that any secrecy was agreed. Ukraine has offered warm words but, as of Friday, no public apology. The foreign ministries are negotiating the text of one.

On 23 September, Zelensky told the General Assembly that Ukraine had “recently sent two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea,” according to Euromaidan Press’s account of the speech. Ukraine captured the two men in Russia’s Kursk region in January 2025. They were the first North Korean soldiers taken alive since Pyongyang sent troops to fight alongside Russia. Zelensky also accused Kim Jong Un of using his soldiers “like currency.”

Lee’s first reaction came in the days after the speech, when he said, in the Korea Herald’s paraphrase, that the disclosure was “deeply regrettable.” On 25 September Dmytro Lytvyn, an adviser to Zelensky, wrote on Facebook that “there was no agreement to remain silent,” and that hiding the prisoners’ destination “would also be wrong,” as Euromaidan Press reported.

Two days later Seong Ghi-hong, Lee’s senior secretary, said Seoul “expresses strong regret over Ukraine’s unilateral disclosure and its subsequent false announcement that there had not been a nondisclosure agreement.” On 28 September South Korea’s first vice foreign minister summoned Ukraine’s acting ambassador to lodge a formal protest.

On Thursday Sybiha said he would “not like to call it an incident” and described a “diplomatic misunderstanding,” adding that “South Korea is an important country for us,” as Euronews reported. He told reporters he hoped the situation would be resolved “in the very near future.”

Lee answered on Friday. “If Ukraine continues to refuse to acknowledge the facts and publicly apologize, we will take further measures,” he wrote on X, calling it “a matter concerning the dignity of the Republic of Korea.” He added, in the words of the Korea Herald, “Ukraine requested confidentiality, and we agreed to keep the matter confidential, but Ukraine unilaterally disclosed it.”

Lee also said Kyiv had made him a “liar.” According to the Korea Times, he said that in response to the demand for an acknowledgement and apology, Ukraine had “instead mentioned” the possibility of an imminent military conflict between the two Koreas. Neither outlet says what the further measures would be.

A South Korean Foreign Ministry official told reporters, as SBS News reported, “We have been discussing how to make an announcement, including an apology.” The same official said “there was clearly an agreement from the outset to maintain confidentiality,” and that its scope “covers the entirety of this matter.”

The order of events matters. Seoul’s complaint has three parts: Ukraine asked for secrecy, Ukraine broke it, and Ukraine then said no secrecy had existed. Lytvyn’s post of 25 September addresses only the third, and it came two days after the speech. Lee’s phrase about being made a “liar” refers to that denial.

Kyiv’s own words point two ways. Lytvyn said there was no agreement. Sybiha, six days later, spoke of a “misunderstanding,” a word that concedes nothing about the agreement but treats the quarrel as fixable. The South Korean official says the two foreign ministers have been in daily contact and are working on an announcement that includes an apology. Lee’s warning came while that drafting was under way.

On 21 September suspected North Korean mines injured three South Korean soldiers in the demilitarised zone, as the Korea Herald’s timeline records, two days before the UN speech. Bong Young-shik, a visiting professor at Yonsei University, told the Korea Herald that “it would be going too far to interpret this as being directly connected to efforts to promote US-North Korea dialogue.” Cha Du-hyeogn of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies asked in the same report: “If US-North Korea or inter-Korean dialogue can take place only when we avoid provoking North Korea, wouldn’t that ultimately mean entering talks on terms largely dictated by Pyongyang?”

Shin Yul, a political scientist at Myongji University, said, as cited by Euronews, that Seoul’s swift action contrasts with its cautious approach to other North Korean incidents, which “could leave the public deeply dissatisfied.” Analysts cited in the same report also said the secrecy may first have served Ukraine’s own prisoner exchanges with Russia.

Lee’s framing is a promise he says he kept. Zelensky’s framing is a disclosure made at the UN, where he said Kim Jong Un treats soldiers “like currency.”

The first marker is whether a joint text appears, and whether the word “apology” is in it. The Foreign Ministry official says it is under discussion. The second is the substance of “further measures,” which Lee has not described. Seoul has not said whether it concerns aid, defence cooperation or diplomatic status. A third is whether the Ukrainian side repeats Lytvyn’s line that no agreement existed. If it does, Lee’s demand and Kyiv’s position remain far apart. If Kyiv drops it, the text becomes easier to write.