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Ukraine–South Korea POW dispute escalates over North Korean soldiers' transfer

A diplomatic rift has opened between Ukraine and South Korea after President Zelenskyy said at the UN General Assembly on 23 September that Ukraine had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to Seoul. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung accused Kyiv of breaching a confidentiality agreement and threatened 'additional measures' if Ukraine does not apologise. Ukraine's Presidential Office denies any such agreement existed.

要点

  • On 23 September, Zelenskyy told the UN General Assembly that Ukraine had transferred two North Korean POWs captured in Russia's Kursk region to South Korea.
  • On 24 September, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung accused Ukraine of breaching a confidentiality agreement on the transfer.
  • Ukraine's Presidential Office denies that any nondisclosure agreement with Seoul existed; South Korea's NIS says Ukraine was the first to request confidentiality.
  • On 28 September, South Korea's Foreign Ministry summoned Ukraine's chargé d'affaires Andrii Yeshkin and demanded an official explanation and apology.
  • Lee Jae-myung threatened unspecified 'additional measures' if Ukraine does not apologise; a Korean Institute for National Unification researcher says these could concern humanitarian and reconstruction aid.
  • The two POWs arrived in South Korea in mid-September with no major health issues and had expressed a desire to resettle there.
  • Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the situation a 'diplomatic misunderstanding' and said he is in daily contact with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun.

なぜ重要か

The dispute marks a rare public rift between Ukraine and a democratic Asian partner over an issue tied directly to North Korea's involvement in Russia's war, and it puts at risk Seoul's humanitarian, financial and reconstruction support at a moment when Kyiv is actively lobbying South Korea to lift its ban on supplying weapons.

何が起きたか

On 23 September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced during a speech at the UN General Assembly that Ukraine had recently transferred two North Korean soldiers, captured by Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk border region, to South Korea. The two men had arrived in South Korea in mid-September with no major health issues and had reportedly expressed a desire to resettle there. The next day, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung accused Kyiv of breaching a confidentiality agreement on the transfer and said the issue of repatriating the POWs was 'extremely sensitive' and tied to diplomacy and national security. Ukraine's Presidential Office denied that any such agreement existed; Presidential Communications Advisor Dmytro Lytvyn wrote on Facebook on 25 September that it would have been wrong to conceal where the prisoners had gone. South Korea's National Intelligence Service told a parliamentary committee that Ukraine had been the first side to request confidentiality, citing concerns about possible impacts on future POW exchange negotiations, and assessed that the public disclosure was likely intended to rally South Korean public support for supplying weapons to Ukraine. On 28 September, South Korea's Foreign Ministry summoned Ukraine's chargé d'affaires Andrii Yeshkin; First Deputy Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo conveyed Seoul's position and called on Kyiv to provide an official explanation and apology. On 2 October, Lee Jae-myung wrote on X that if Ukraine continued to refuse to recognise the facts and publicly apologise, 'additional measures' would be taken, without specifying what they would be. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, speaking on 1 October, called the situation a 'diplomatic misunderstanding' rather than an incident and said he had been in daily contact with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun.

ウクライナメディアの見方

Ukrainian outlets frame the episode as a 'diplomatic misunderstanding' that the two sides are working through, with Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stressing daily contact with Seoul and calling South Korea an important partner. The Presidential Office's denial of any nondisclosure agreement is central to that framing, and Presidential Communications Advisor Dmytro Lytvyn is quoted saying it would have been wrong to conceal where the prisoners had gone. Koreanist Mykola Polishchuk is cited suggesting that Seoul may have intended to hand the POWs to Kim Jong Un for North Korean propaganda, recasting the dispute as a clash over how to handle North Korean captives. Ukrainian Ambassador Valeriy Chaly argued that the episode exposes a deeper problem of weakening communications within Ukraine's own foreign policy system.

海外メディアの見方

South Korean–sourced reporting, reproduced in US and German outlets, frames Zelenskyy's disclosure as a violation of a mutual confidentiality agreement and emphasises Seoul's demands for an official explanation and apology. These accounts centre the National Intelligence Service's assessment that the disclosure was likely aimed at rallying South Korean public support for supplying weapons to Ukraine, and quote South Korean officials warning that the disclosure could endanger the POWs and their families in the North and complicate inter-Korean and US–DPRK diplomacy. Coverage also highlights President Lee Jae-myung's threat of unspecified 'additional measures' and his 'deep regret' over Ukrainian statements about an imminent North–South military clash.

報道の食い違い

Four main points of disagreement run through the coverage. First, whether a confidentiality agreement existed at all: South Korea and its NIS say one did and that Ukraine was the first to request it, while Ukraine's Presidential Office denies any such deal. Second, whether Kyiv gave Seoul advance diplomatic notice that Zelenskyy would mention the POWs at the UN: a senior South Korean presidential official cited by Korea JoongAng Daily says yes, while Ukraine's denial of the underlying agreement implies the disclosure was not pre-cleared. Third, whether Ukraine has expressed any regret: the NIS says there has been no apology or expression of regret through any channel, while Ukrainian officials publicly call the matter a 'diplomatic misunderstanding' and say they are working to resolve and rebuild relations, though they have not issued a formal apology. Fourth, what Lee Jae-myung's threatened 'additional measures' would target: a Korean Institute for National Unification researcher suggests humanitarian, financial and reconstruction aid, while Lee himself has not specified.

背景

The two North Korean soldiers were captured by Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk border region, one source specifying January 2025. South Korea has supplied humanitarian and non-lethal aid to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, including an additional $100 million pledged at a July NATO summit, but has a policy of not providing weapons to countries actively at war. South Korea's NIS estimates that roughly 9,000 North Korean soldiers have been engaged in surveillance operations in the Kursk region. North Korea has not publicly commented on the transfer but has previously framed major defections as abductions or luring by Seoul.