Ukraine has transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea after they were taken prisoner while fighting for Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, prompting Seoul to express regret that the sensitive move had been publicly disclosed.
Zelenskyy announced the transfer in an address to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, saying the two men had recently been sent to South Korea. The soldiers were captured by Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region in January 2025 and were the first North Korean soldiers captured alive since Pyongyang joined Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2024.
“These guys are not easy to capture alive,” Zelenskyy said. He added that one of the soldiers had attempted suicide after realising he was about to be captured and was “shocked that fate did not let him die”.
When the two were captured, Zelenskyy had said Ukraine would hand them over to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if that could facilitate an exchange for Ukrainians held captive in Russia. Human rights groups subsequently urged Ukraine to transfer them to South Korea, citing the risk of punishment if they were returned to North Korea. South Korean media reported that the soldiers had expressed a desire to defect to South Korea.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said it was “deeply regretful” that Ukraine had publicly disclosed the transfer, saying Seoul and Kyiv had agreed not to make the matter public.
“The repatriation of North Korean prisoners is a highly sensitive issue with significant implications for diplomacy, national security and the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” Lee said in a post on X.
The disclosure also prompted questions from South Korean opposition politicians about why the government had not announced the transfer itself. Opposition lawmaker Yu Yong-weon told reporters on Thursday that the two men had left Ukraine the previous weekend, travelled through a third country and arrived in South Korea three to four days earlier, according to Yonhap News Agency.
“While their exact location is unknown, I believe our intelligence agencies are protecting them,” Yu was quoted as saying.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry declined to confirm the report, citing concerns over the safety of the soldiers and their families. The country’s Unification Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Seoul said in June that it would accept any North Korean prisoners of war captured after fighting for Russia and opposed their repatriation to either Russia or North Korea. The transfer comes as South Korea has expressed support for renewed dialogue with Pyongyang and US President Donald Trump has again indicated his willingness to engage with the North Korean government.
Zelenskyy used his UN address to criticise North Korea’s military support for Moscow. “Why should Koreans give their lives in a war against Ukraine? Kim Jong Un uses them like currency. And he gets something in return,” he said.
Ukrainian and South Korean estimates put the number of North Korean troops sent to support Russia since 2024 at between 14,000 and 15,000, with most deployed in the Kursk region to help repel a Ukrainian incursion. According to Ukrainian and independent assessments, Pyongyang has also supplied Russia with millions of artillery and mortar rounds, ballistic missiles, long-range artillery systems and multiple-launch rocket systems.
