Row deepens over Ukraine-South Korea prisoner deal

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - SEOUL — South Korea’s ⁠President ⁠Lee Jae Myung has expressed anger at Ukraine over comments by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that appeared to reveal a secret deal by which Kyiv would transfer North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul.

In a social media post on Friday, Lee accused Ukraine of undermining him and ⁠warned that Zelensky’s ⁠remarks about an imminent military clash between North and South Korea ‌amounted to invoking the risk of war on ‌the ‌Korean Peninsula.

Lee threatened to take unspecified "further action" if Ukraine does not issue a public apology for revealing that two North Korean prisoners of war had been sent to the South.

The diplomatic row pits two US-aligned states with powerful militaries against each other, potentially complicating US efforts to shore up a united global front to contain Russia, China and North Korea.

Zelensky made the disclosure to the UN General Assembly last week. He said during his UN speech that Kyiv had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea after they were caught fighting for Russia in the Kursk region.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Thursday described the situation as a "diplomatic misunderstanding", adding that Kyiv was "working" to resolve it.

Lee rejected this characterisation on X, saying it concerned "the dignity of the Korean people and the nation".

Lee's office said last week that it was Ukraine that requested the move to be kept secret, partly to protect the North Koreans' families, and also because Kyiv wanted to avoid criticism that it had given up an opportunity to exchange the soldiers for Ukrainian prisoners of war.

Zelensky's office responded, saying the two countries had no such agreement to keep the move confidential, further escalating the situation.

Lee himself faced heavy criticism at home after Zelensky's disclosure, with the South Korean opposition accusing him of covering up the transfer to appease Pyongyang.

The two soldiers, who were among thousands of North Koreans supporting Russia in the Ukraine war, had earlier told local media they wanted to be sent to South Korea.

Speaking to Ukrainian media on Thursday, Sybiha said he "hopes that this situation will be resolved in the very near future".

"We are working on it. For us, South Korea is an important country. And I really hope for momentum, continuation, and concrete results that we are truly achieving with them," he said.

Lee, in response, accused Kyiv of attempting to "bring war on the Korean Peninsula".

"We express serious regret that, instead of acknowledging the facts of the agreement and apologising, they are talking about an imminent military clash between the North and South," he said in an X post.

Seoul has been sympathetic to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion, but has adhered to its longstanding policy of not providing lethal weapons to any country engaged in active war.