South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of violating a confidential agreement by publicly disclosing the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea, saying the issue was highly sensitive and could have significant diplomatic and security consequences.
Zelensky told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that Ukraine had sent two North Korean soldiers captured while fighting for Russia to South Korea. He said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was using his soldiers “like currency” with Russia and argued that they should not be allowed additional time to fight on Ukrainian front lines and acquire battlefield experience.
Lee criticised the disclosure on Friday, saying Seoul had expected the transfer to remain confidential.
“I don’t know why the Ukrainian side broke the agreement and made the matter public but it’s very disappointing,” Lee said on X. “The issue of bringing North Korean prisoners to South Korea is a highly sensitive one that could have a major impact on diplomacy, security and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.”
He added that state affairs should be conducted for the benefit of the nation and its people rather than for the profit or popularity of an administration or ruler.
The dispute followed criticism from South Korean opposition lawmakers, who had questioned Lee’s government over its decision not to disclose the soldiers’ arrival. 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 or four days earlier, according to Yonhap.
“While their exact location is unknown, I believe our intelligence agencies are protecting them,” Yu said.
The South Korean government appeared reluctant to confirm details of the transfer after Zelensky’s UN speech. Officials said they could not disclose the timing or route of any transfer in order to protect the safety of the soldiers and their families in North Korea.
South Korea considers North Koreans to be its own citizens, and its constitution obligates the country to accept defectors and refugees from the North. The arrival of captured North Korean troops therefore carries particular diplomatic and security sensitivities.
North Korea began supplying artillery shells and ammunition to Russia in 2023 and deployed nearly 16,000 soldiers to Russia, according to South Korean intelligence agencies. The troops helped repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region in 2024. In return, Russia provided North Korea with food, oil and advanced military technologies, helping Pyongyang withstand the effects of international economic sanctions.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service estimated in February that almost 6,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded while fighting for Russia against Ukraine.
Zelensky provided few details about the transfer but described the capture of one of the soldiers. “These guys aren’t easy to capture alive,” he said. “One of them, when he realised he was going to be taken prisoner, tried to kill himself. And he was shocked that fate did not let him die.”
The disagreement comes as Lee’s government seeks to revive dialogue with North Korea, while US President Donald Trump has shown willingness to re-engage with Pyongyang. Lee has proposed talks aimed at formally ending the Korean War and suggested a “multi-layered security system” to prevent clashes along the Demilitarised Zone.
“Let us put down our intentions to threaten each other and begin discussions to end the long-running war as the directly involved parties,” Lee said in August.
