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A diplomatic rift has opened between South Korea and Ukraine after Seoul accused Kyiv of breaching a confidentiality arrangement governing the handover of two North Korean prisoners of war, injecting fresh tension into a relationship that had been steadily deepening since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
South Korea's presidential office issued a statement on Sunday expressing "strong regret" over what it described as Ukraine's unilateral disclosure of the transfer and its subsequent denial that any non-disclosure agreement had existed. The statement, delivered by senior presidential secretary for public relations Seong Ghi-hong, was reported by the Yonhap news agency.
At the centre of the dispute are two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk region in January 2025. Both men had reportedly expressed a wish to defect to South Korea, and their transfer to Seoul was announced publicly by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his address to the United Nations General Assembly last week.
According to Seoul, the confidentiality arrangement was not a bureaucratic formality but a protective measure. The presidential office said the agreement was designed to shield the two soldiers from dangers they could face if news of their relocation became public, consistent with international law and humanitarian principles. North Korean defectors and prisoners are widely considered at risk of reprisals against themselves or family members still inside the country.
Ukraine's position differs sharply. Citing a Ukrainian presidential source, Yonhap reported that Kyiv denied the existence of any confidentiality agreement with Seoul. The Ukrainian presidential office said it had disclosed the transfer without detailing the process itself, arguing that keeping the entire operation secret would have been unreasonable. The disagreement over whether an agreement existed at all is now the crux of the bilateral friction.
Seoul warned that the "false" denial of the confidentiality arrangement "seriously hampers" trust between the two countries and causes significant disruption to bilateral friendship. The presidential office added that the government is weighing additional measures if necessary, leaving open the possibility of further diplomatic consequences.
The timing of the disclosure has amplified the sensitivity. Zelenskyy used the UN General Assembly stage to announce the transfer, drawing global attention to the two soldiers and to the broader issue of North Korean involvement in Russia's war effort. In his address, he noted that capturing North Korean soldiers alive is difficult, recounting that one of the two men attempted to take his own life upon realising he would be taken prisoner and was shocked that fate prevented his death.
That description reflects a pattern documented since North Korean troops began appearing on the battlefield. Intelligence reports and testimony from defectors have indicated that North Korean soldiers have resorted to self-detonation or other forms of suicide rather than face capture. Such behaviour suggests intense ideological conditioning and fears of punishment for surrender, factors that also underscore the vulnerability of any soldier who does end up in enemy hands.
The two captured men are part of a larger North Korean deployment that South Korean intelligence estimates at roughly 14,000 to 15,000 soldiers sent to support Russia since 2024, concentrated mainly in the Kursk border region. South Korean, Ukrainian and Western officials say these units have suffered heavy losses, with more than 6,000 North Korean troops killed in the fighting.
The POW question had been a subject of careful diplomacy before the current row. When South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkiye, in July, the two leaders agreed to resolve the status of North Korean prisoners in line with international law, according to senior presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung. That understanding built on an earlier commitment made during a South Korea-Ukraine foreign ministers' meeting in March, where both sides pledged to cooperate on the issue.
For Seoul, the stakes extend beyond the two individuals. South Korea has been pursuing efforts to revive dialogue with North Korea, and the manner in which Pyongyang's captured soldiers are handled could affect that broader diplomatic track. Meanwhile, United States President Donald Trump has renewed his willingness to engage with Pyongyang, adding another variable to an already complicated regional landscape.
The dispute also carries implications for Seoul's standing as a partner to Kyiv. South Korea has provided humanitarian and economic support to Ukraine and has cooperated on intelligence matters, but it has resisted calls to supply lethal weapons directly. A public breakdown in trust over something as sensitive as prisoner transfers could complicate future coordination, particularly if Seoul follows through on hints of additional measures.
Analysts note that confidentiality pledges in prisoner transfers are common in conflict settings precisely because publicity can endanger the individuals involved and complicate future exchanges. When one side publicly claims such an agreement never existed, it raises questions about record-keeping, miscommunication or differing interpretations of what was actually promised.
What happens next will depend largely on whether the two governments can contain the disagreement. Seoul has framed the issue as a matter of principle and humanitarian responsibility. Kyiv, for its part, appears to view the public announcement as a legitimate way to highlight North Korea's role in the war and the plight of soldiers sent to fight in a foreign conflict. Reconciling those two perspectives may require quiet diplomacy rather than further public recrimination.
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