Seoul demands an apology after Zelenskyy unilaterally reveals North Korean prisoners of war transfer

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea called for an official apology from Ukraine after the Ukrainian president revealed what Seoul says was supposed to be a secret transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the U.N. General Assembly last week that Ukraine had recently sent the men to South Korea after capturing them on a Ukraine-Russia battlefield in early 2025. The two are among thousands of North Korean soldiers sent to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung quickly accused Ukraine of violating a nondisclosure agreement about the transfer. Ukraine denied making such a deal.

Seong Ghi-hong, a senior presidential adviser for Lee on public relations, expressed “strong regret” on Sunday over Ukraine’s latest actions and demanded an official apology and explanation.

Seong said in a statement that Ukraine’s “false” statement denying the nondisclosure agreement was “an act that seriously undermines trust between the two governments and causes significant damage to friendly relations between the two countries.”

Seong said the two countries had earlier reached the agreement as Seoul was concerned about the safety of the North Korean soldiers and their relatives in the North and unspecified diplomatic and security issues, while Kyiv worried about possible domestic criticism for forfeiting an opportunity to exchange them for Ukrainian soldiers held in Russia.

Repeated calls to Ukraine's Embassy in Seoul were unanswered on Monday.

While still in Ukraine, the two soldiers said in media interviews they wanted to resettle in South Korea.

South Korea had called on Ukraine not to send them back to North Korea, where they could face persecution. The South legally regards the North as part of its territory and has a policy of accepting and financially supporting North Korean defectors.

More than 34,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, mostly in the last three decades. Most were female civilians from the North’s poorer northern provinces. Defections by soldiers are uncommon.

In his U.N. speech, Zelenskyy didn't provide details about the transfer, but said that “one of them, when he realized he was going to ​be taken prisoner, tried to kill himself and he was shocked that ​fate didn’t let him die. This is how they raise people in the North.”

Some experts say Zelenskyy likely decided to expose the danger of North Korean involvement in the war as a way to attract bigger Western assistance. Meanwhile, South Korea's liberal government worried news of the transfer could trigger an angry response from North Korea and hurt efforts to resume diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington.

South Korea, a growing arms exporter with a well-equipped, U.S.-backed military, has provided humanitarian aid and other support to Ukraine while joining U.S.-led economic sanctions against Russia since the conflict erupted in 2022.

However, Seoul has resisted calls by Kyiv and NATO to provide direct military support to Ukraine in line with a long-standing policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflict.

North Korea and Russia confirmed in April 2025 that their soldiers fought together to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region . South Korea, the United States and others say North Korea has also supplied artillery, ammunition and missiles to Russia in return for economic and military assistance. South Korea’s intelligence service estimated last year that North Korea sent about 15,000 troops and 2,000 of them were killed.

Expanding cooperation with Russia has helped North Korean leader Kim Jong Un push back against U.S.-led pressure and more assertively accelerate a nuclear weapons program. Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump scaled back a military drill with South Korea in an apparent bid to restart diplomacy with Kim, but North Korea has suggested the step wasn't enough to convince it to return to talks.

Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this report.