South Korea voices 'strong regret' over Ukraine's denial of pact on North Korean POW transfer

South Korea’s presidential office has expressed “strong regret” over what it called Ukraine’s unilateral disclosure of the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul — and its subsequent denial that a nondisclosure agreement existed.

The office “expresses strong regret over Ukraine’s unilateral disclosure (of the transfer) and its subsequent false announcement that there had not been a nondisclosure agreement,” Yonhap News Agency quoted Seong Ghi-hong, senior presidential secretary for public relations, as saying in a statement on Sunday.

President Lee Jae Myung had already voiced regret on Sept 24, after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed in his Sept 23 address to the United Nations General Assembly that Ukraine had sent the two men to South Korea.

The Ukrainian presidential office told Yonhap it had disclosed only the existence of the transfer, without details, and that it would have been “strange” to keep the entire transfer secret. Ukrainian media cited a Ukrainian presidential source denying a confidentiality agreement — a denial Seoul calls “false” and says “seriously hampers” bilateral trust.

Seoul said the nondisclosure agreement aimed to safeguard the soldiers under international law and humanitarian principles, and warned it is considering additional measures if necessary.

The two North Koreans were captured by Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region in January 2025 while fighting for Russia, and both expressed a desire to defect to South Korea.

Sources

• Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/south-korea-voices-regret-over-ukraine-denial-pact-north-korean-pows-yonhap-2026-09-27/
• Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/27/south-korea-ukraine-relations-sour-over-north-korean-pow-transfer
• Kyiv Independent: https://kyivindependent.com/zelensky-breaches-confidentiality-agreement-by-disclosing-transfer-of-north-korean-pows-south-korea-says/