South Korean President Lee threatens "further action" over Zelenskyy's disclosure of North Korean POW transfer; Kyiv calls it a "diplomatic misunderstanding"
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has threatened unspecified "further action" unless Ukraine publicly apologises for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's disclosure at the UN General Assembly that two captured North Korean soldiers had been transferred to South Korea. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the dispute as a "diplomatic misunderstanding" and said Kyiv was working to resolve it. The two governments disagree over whether a confidentiality agreement on the transfer ever existed.
要点
- South Korean President Lee Jae Myung threatened unspecified "further action" on 2 October if Ukraine does not publicly apologise for the disclosure.
- Lee accused Kyiv of "attempting to provoke a war on the Korean Peninsula" and said the matter concerns "the dignity of the Korean people and the nation".
- President Zelenskyy disclosed the transfer of two North Korean POWs to South Korea during his UN General Assembly address on 23 September.
- Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the dispute a "diplomatic misunderstanding" on 1 October and said Kyiv is working to resolve it.
- Seoul says Ukraine requested the transfer be kept secret; Zelenskyy's office denies any confidentiality agreement existed.
- Lee faces domestic South Korean opposition criticism accusing him of covering up the transfer to appease Pyongyang.
- The two soldiers were among thousands of North Koreans supporting Russia in the war in Ukraine and had told local media they wanted to go to South Korea.
なぜ重要か
The dispute opens a public rift between Ukraine and South Korea, a key sympathetic partner, at a moment when the war's international coalition matters most. It also connects the Russia–Ukraine war directly to Korean Peninsula security through the handling of captured North Korean combatants. South Korea's longstanding refusal to supply lethal weapons to countries in active war limits how far Seoul can go in support of Kyiv, and the row could narrow or reshape cooperation further if it is not resolved. Each side now accuses the other of misrepresenting the facts, complicating de-escalation.
何が起きたか
On 23 September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the UN General Assembly that Ukraine had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea. The next day, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung publicly criticised the disclosure, and on 2 October, posting on X, he threatened unspecified "further action" unless Ukraine apologised. He accused Kyiv of "attempting to provoke a war on the Korean Peninsula" and said the issue touched "the dignity of the Korean people and the nation," arguing that Ukraine's denial of any confidentiality agreement made him look like a "liar". Seoul's presidential office said Ukraine itself had asked for the transfer to be kept secret, partly to protect the soldiers' families from North Korean retaliation and to head off Ukrainian criticism over a lost chance to swap them for Ukrainian POWs. Zelenskyy's office and his communications adviser, Dmytro Lytvyn, denied that any such agreement existed, with Lytvyn writing that it would have been wrong to conceal where prisoners of war end up. On 1 October, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it a "diplomatic misunderstanding" and said Kyiv was working to resolve it, calling South Korea an important country for Ukraine.
ウクライナメディアの見方
Ukrainian outlets — hromadske, НВ, ЛІГА.net, Бабель and Суспільне Новини — frame the episode through Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha's "diplomatic misunderstanding" characterisation and Zelenskyy's office denial that any confidentiality agreement existed. Ukrainian coverage foregrounds Zelenskyy's UN General Assembly disclosure, the broader story of North Koreans deployed alongside Russian troops, and Ukraine's own interest in prisoner exchanges. Several pieces also note the soldiers' stated wish to be sent to South Korea, casting the row as an unfortunate but containable diplomatic bump rather than a fundamental break.
海外メディアの見方
Non-Ukrainian outlets — BBC News, Al Jazeera Arabic, APA and the South China Morning Post — lead with President Lee's threat of "further action", his accusation that Kyiv is "attempting to provoke a war on the Korean Peninsula", and his framing of the issue as a matter of "the dignity of the Korean people and the nation". International reporting gives substantial space to Seoul's version of events, including the claim that Ukraine requested secrecy and the stated reasons of protecting the soldiers' families and avoiding criticism over a lost POW swap. The pieces also note the domestic political pressure on Lee from South Korean opposition parties accusing him of covering up the transfer to appease Pyongyang, and flag that the nature of the threatened "further action" has not been specified.
報道の食い違い
South Korea's presidential office asserts that a confidentiality agreement on the transfer of the two North Korean POWs existed and that Ukraine itself requested secrecy, partly to protect the soldiers' families from North Korean retaliation and to avoid Ukrainian domestic criticism over a lost chance to exchange them for Ukrainian POWs. According to Korea JoongAng Daily, citing a senior South Korean official, Kyiv also warned Seoul in advance through diplomatic channels that Zelenskyy intended to mention the POWs at the UN General Assembly. Ukraine's Office of the President and presidential communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn deny that any confidentiality agreement existed, and Lytvyn wrote that it would have been wrong to conceal where prisoners of war are sent. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the dispute as a "diplomatic misunderstanding"; President Lee rejected that characterisation. Seoul has also said Ukraine's denial "seriously undermines" mutual trust and harms friendly relations between the two countries.
背景
The two transferred soldiers were among thousands of North Koreans supporting Russia's war effort in Ukraine, and had told local media they wanted to go to South Korea. South Korea has been sympathetic to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion but has maintained a longstanding policy of not providing lethal weapons to any country engaged in active war, limiting the scope of its material support. President Zelenskyy made his disclosure during his address to the UN General Assembly on 23 September; President Lee first publicly criticised the disclosure the following day, and the dispute has since escalated into the current exchange of threats and denials.