Seoul, Kyiv at odds over secret deal on NK POW transfer
South Korea and Ukraine are locked in an unusual diplomatic dispute over the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war (POWs) to Seoul, with the two governments giving conflicting accounts of whether they had agreed to keep the move confidential. The dispute escalated, Sunday, as Cheong Wa Dae demanded an official explanation and apology from Kyiv, four days after Ukrainian President…
South Korea and Ukraine are embroiled in a diplomatic disagreement over the secret transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war (POWs) to Seoul. Both nations have conflicting accounts regarding whether they had reached an agreement to maintain the secrecy of this move. The dispute intensified on Sunday when South Korea demanded an official explanation and apology from Ukraine, following Ukraine's unexpected announcement during a United Nations General Assembly address.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed that Ukraine had "recently" sent the two North Korean POWs to South Korea, approximately 20 months after their capture in Russia’s Kursk region. The two prisoners were among thousands of North Korean soldiers who were deployed to assist Russia in its conflict with Ukraine since 2024. These individuals had expressed a preference for relocating to South Korea instead of being repatriated to North Korea.
Seoul maintains that both parties agreed to keep the transfer under wraps, whereas Ukraine asserts that no such agreement was ever established. The conflicting claims surfaced on Thursday, just a day after Zelenskyy's speech, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his dismay on social media.
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- Seoul, Kyiv at odds over secret deal on NK POW transfer koreatimes.co.kr
