South Korea Accuses Zelensky of Leaking Details on Captured North Korean Soldiers

The President of South Korea has accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of breaching a confidentiality agreement after Kyiv publicly announced the transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers to Seoul, even though the two sides had agreed not to publicize the matter. The statement appeared on social media platform X the day after Zelensky's address to the UN General Assembly in New York.

Seoul's Reaction

"Ukraine disclosed information about the transfer in violation of our confidentiality agreement. I don't know why this happened, but I regret it," the South Korean president wrote on X. According to him, it would have been better not to disclose this fact for a number of reasons, and that was precisely what the two sides had agreed on.

As the South Korean outlet The Korea Times notes, this is an extremely sensitive issue for Seoul that could affect diplomacy, national security and the overall situation on the Korean Peninsula. Previously, the South Korean government had refused to even confirm the prisoners' arrival in Seoul, citing a threat to the safety and lives of the soldiers themselves and their relatives, who still live in North Korea.

What Zelensky Said

Ukraine's president mentioned the transfer of the prisoners in his address to the UN General Assembly, saying that Kyiv had recently handed over two North Korean prisoners of war to the Republic of Korea — both of whom had expressed a wish to go to South Korea themselves.

"These men were not easy to take alive. One of them, realizing he was about to be captured, tried to take his own life — and was stunned that fate did not let him die. That's how people are raised in the North. This is the reality: they are stripped of freedom, stripped of the right to choose, and taught that they must die no matter what happens," Zelensky said.

Kyiv's Response

Responding to a question from the Yonhap news agency, the Ukrainian president's office said it had only disclosed the fact of the transfer of the North Koreans to South Korea, not the details of the entire process, and that keeping the transfer completely secret would have been strange.

An unnamed South Korean official later clarified that the country's authorities had known in advance of Zelensky's intention to announce the transfer: Ukraine had given advance notice of its plans, though without specifics.

Ukrainian forces captured both North Korean soldiers in January 2025 — like thousands of other North Korean troops, they had been sent to Russia's Kursk region to support Moscow in its war against Ukraine.

Source: novinky.cz