Seoul wants an apology after Ukraine exposed a secret POW transfer

South Korea and Ukraine have managed to turn a prisoner transfer into a diplomatic dispute, which is hardly the sort of efficiency either side can advertise. Seoul is demanding an apology after Kyiv publicly disclosed that two North Korean prisoners of war had been sent to South Korea, even though, according to Seoul, the matter was supposed to remain confidential.

The row began last week when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his country had transferred the two North Korean soldiers to the South, adding that they were not easy to capture alive. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung reacted within hours, saying he did not understand why the Ukrainian side had broken the agreement and made the matter public.

Seoul then hardened its line. Seong Ghi-hong, senior presidential secretary for public relations, said late on Sunday that South Korea was considering additional measures if needed. He said the unilateral disclosure was a serious matter and added that the Ukrainian presidential press office had falsely claimed there had been no confidentiality agreement, which in his view damaged trust and friendly relations between the two countries. The presidential office wants an official explanation and an apology.

Ukraine has tried to reduce the temperature, though not by much. Dmytro Lytvyn, an aide to Zelenskyy, said the president had only made public the fact that the soldiers had been handed over to South Korea. He said Ukraine is an open country and that it would have been unusual to transfer the men in secret. In other words, one side calls it disclosure, the other calls it transparency, and diplomacy is left to sort out the vocabulary.

The prisoners were captured early last year among Pyongyang’s troops fighting for Moscow. One of them said he had served in a reconnaissance unit and that, although some North Korean soldiers had been trained to use Russian military equipment, he had not. He also said he had been conscripted at the age of 17 and had served since then. A South Korean lawmaker had previously said the pair wanted to live a normal life in the South.

The argument is not just about protocol, and Seoul knows it. Analysts believe Lee Jae Myung’s angry reaction could deepen friction with North Korea, which has used deployed soldiers to build a heroic narrative for regime propaganda. Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha Womans University, said the South Korean government appears concerned that confirming the prisoners’ return to the South and publicising it could further fuel hostility towards Seoul.

There is also a more practical consequence, which is that the dispute could complicate Ukraine’s requests for weapons from allies, including South Korea. Seoul has so far not provided lethal weapons to Ukraine, citing a domestic ban on military aid to countries at war. It has nevertheless been considering requests for defensive weapons, especially since North Korea deployed troops to support Russia. For Kyiv, a confidential transfer has now become a public irritation; for Seoul, it has become a question of trust.

Written by Sandy van Dongen sandy.vandongen@alpineweekly.com