🇰🇷🇺🇦 Seoul Rebukes Kyiv Over POW Disclosure

South Korea’s intelligence service believes President Volodymyr Zelensky disclosed the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea to build domestic backing for military aid to Ukraine, according to lawmakers briefed by the agency. Seoul summoned Ukraine’s envoy on Sept. 28 over the issue after Zelensky publicly revealed the move at the UN; the two soldiers arrived in mid-September and were reported to be in generally good health.

Seoul said confidentiality had been agreed at the diplomatic level because disclosure could endanger the POWs’ relatives in North Korea. Lawmakers said the two men had repeatedly confirmed their willingness to go to the South, but the public disclosure complicated a sensitive case that intersects with Ukraine’s requests for South Korean weapons and broader cooperation.

The episode adds friction to Seoul-Kyiv coordination on North Korean military involvement in the war. It also tightens South Korea’s focus on handling defectors and POWs from the North under strict security controls.

#SouthKorea #Ukraine #NorthKorea

@asianomics