South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung has issued a stern warning to Ukraine over the North Korean POW transfer row.
In a recent warning, Lee threatened to take unspecific actions against Kyiv if the country fails to issue a public apology over violating the confidentiality of transfer agreement.
“If the refusal to acknowledge the facts and issue a public apology continues, we will take additional measures,” Lee said in a post on X.
The president also strongly condemned Ukrainian comments suggesting an imminent war between North and South Korea, arguing that such remarks actively encouraged conflict on the peninsula.
A diplomatic rift emerged after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly disclosed the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war at the UN general assembly,
Seoul maintains that Ukraine originally requested the transfer to be kept confidential to protect the soldiers’ families and avoid political blowback. Kyiv’s office denied that any such confidentiality agreement existed.
The disclosure also brought backlash from South Korea’s opposition who all criticised the president for trying to cover up the transfer. In response, Seoul demanded an apology from Kyiv.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha downplayed the dispute as a “diplomatic misunderstanding,” stating that Kyiv is actively working to resolve the issue and preserve its important partnership with South Korea.
“We are working on it. For us, South Korea is an important country. And I really hope for momentum, continuation, and concrete results that we are truly achieving with them,” he said.
