South Korea recalled its ambassador from Ukraine and denied supplying fuel to Russia

South Korea has recalled its ambassador from Ukraine amid a scandal over the disclosure of information about the extradition of North Korean prisoners.

This was reported by the countryʼs Foreign Ministry.

The agency did not specify the reason, but noted that "the government hopes to smoothly resolve all outstanding issues between the two countries".

In parallel, the Office of the President of South Korea denied allegations that the country was supplying fuel to Russia in circumvention of sanctions. This fact was first reported by The Guardian, and later the spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Heorhiy Tykhyi stated that Ukraine was able to confirm this.

Seoul assures that the government is consistently adhering to sanctions and export restrictions on Russia. They noted that official statistics do not record exports from South Korea to Russia of diesel, gasoline, or jet fuel from August 2025 to August 2026.

However, the government is verifying the information provided and promises to take action if it finds any violations.

• South Korea is trying to balance support for Ukraine with a desire to improve relations with Russia. Since early 2022, Seoul has not directly supplied weapons to Ukraine, adhering to its practice of not supplying lethal weapons to countries at war.
• The countries are currently strained over a diplomatic scandal between Ukraine and South Korea following the disclosure of information about the transfer of North Korean prisoners. Seoul said there was an agreement on confidentiality, which Kyiv denied.

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