South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said that Ukraine violated a non-disclosure agreement when it released information about the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to the country.
He wrote about this in H.
The politician emphasized that the issue of repatriating North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea is extremely sensitive and significantly affects diplomacy, security, and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
"Those who do not care about what inter-Korean relations will be like (whether anyone will die, and whether national interests will be harmed), and who would certainly trumpet the return of the prisoners to the whole world in order to demonstrate their own achievements — not only do not understand our efforts to conduct everything in private, but are also probably surprised that there is any problem here at all," Lee Jae Myung noted.
He said that there were those among the government representatives who suggested publicly announcing the return of North Korean prisoners to South Korea, as this would help restore ratings. However, given the numerous problems that disclosure could cause, they decided to keep this fact private.
"I donʼt know what circumstances forced the Ukrainian side to violate the non-disclosure agreement and make this information public, but itʼs a great pity that this happened," the president added.
- President Volodymyr Zelensky reported on September 23 at a meeting of the UN General Assembly that Ukraine had transferred two prisoners from the DPRK to South Korea.
- They were captured by Ukrainian soldiers back in January 2025. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine was ready to hand them over to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The prisoners themselves requested asylum in South Korea.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.