Ukraine, South Korea conflict over North Korean prisoner swap

Speaking on the UN General Assembly on September 23, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sparked a diplomatic dust-up with South Korea.

In his speech, Zelenskyy talked about that Ukraine had lately “despatched two North Korean prisoners of conflict to the Republic of Korea” — males who had been captured by Ukrainian forces during fighting in Russia’s Kursk region in January 2025. Both had expressed a want to resettle in South Korea, he stated.

The reaction from Seoul was swift: South Korea’s Foreign Ministry summoned Ukraine’s ambassador to Seoul, Andrii Vieshkin, and demanded an evidence for what it described as Kyiv’s “unilateral disclosure” of the prisoners’ switch, regardless of a previous settlement to maintain the matter confidential, together with an official apology.

 

Responding to Zelenskyy’s speech, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung stated the switch of North Korean prisoners of conflict was a delicate matter with wide-ranging penalties for foreign relations and nationwide safety on the Korean Peninsula.

Did Kyiv and Seoul have a secret settlement?

Dmytro Lytvyn, Zelenskyy’s spokesperson, wrote on Facebook that no such confidentiality settlement existed between the 2 nations, including that it was mistaken to maintain secret the place such prisoners had been being transferred.

Soon after, South Korean presidential spokesperson Kim Sung-wan referred to as Lytvyn’s denials false, based on information company Reuters. Kim stated Ukraine had requested for confidentiality — allegedly over issues there may be criticism at house if the North Korean prisoners weren’t swapped for Ukrainian prisoners being held in Russia.

Seoul had agreed to the secrecy for diplomatic causes, he added, but in addition to guard the prisoners and their households who had been nonetheless residing in North Korea.

Missed alternative to ‘enhance bilateral relations’

Nataliya Butyrska, an Asia-Pacific skilled on the New Europe Center in Kyiv, advised DW that Ukraine and South Korea lacked a steady, trust-based dialogue, particularly underneath the present authorities in Seoul.

“We ought to really be pure companions — we ought to be standing shoulder to shoulder, with North Korea preventing in opposition to Ukraine,” she stated. “But that is not the case, as a consequence of a scarcity of belief.”

The prisoner switch has been a hotly debated matter in South Korean media within the final week — not least as a result of, based on South Korea’s structure, North Koreans are thought of residents of South Korea. It’s additionally been instrumentalized by opposition lawmakers, whereas President Lee, aiming to ease tensions with the North, has taken a extra measured method.

“The prisoners might have been utilized by Ukraine to enhance bilateral relations between Kyiv and Seoul,” stated Butyrska, including that nobody in South Korea was now considering of thanking Ukraine for transferring the prisoners.

Butyrska identified that Russia, which normally would not specific any curiosity in foreign prisoners, had really demanded the return of those two North Koreans. “There was even a interval of six months when the Russians refused to launch any Ukrainian prisoners of conflict,” she stated. “They weren’t ready to undertake any swap, as a result of they wished the North Koreans.”

Is Ukraine being held hostage by South Korea’s home politics?

For some observers, the diplomatic disaster will be linked again to home conflicts in South Korea. The opposition needs to know why the president agreed to maintain the prisoner switch secret, and have accused Lee of attempting to gain favor with the North.

“President Lee Jae Myung was stunned by the incident, and now needs to shift the blame partly on Ukraine,” stated Mykola Polishchuk, a Korea skilled primarily based in Ukraine. He believes the switch would have turn into public information in the end, and that Seoul knew that Kyiv was going to touch upon it. Reports that Ukraine had requested for secrecy had been, he added, a approach for a frantic politicians in Seoul to give you an evidence.

“Ukraine has ended up mired in a scandal which it neither wished nor deliberate for,” stated Polishchuk.

“South Korea has been pursuing the switch of the prisoners for a very long time. And now all people appears to be pleased that these Korean prisoners are in custody,” stated Shim Sangmin from the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. “But what actually complicates the matter is the truth that the South Korean authorities is attempting to make new methods to reconcile with the North Korean regime.” He stated Seoul was now fearful that this switch of North Korean prisoners might hamper efforts to reestablish communication between the North and the South.

In his view, the Lee authorities is “extra open to the thought of reestablishing ties” with Russia, moderately than persevering with to cooperate with Ukraine. “That’s probably one of many the explanation why this authorities is skeptical about containing navy cooperation with Ukrainian navy forces, though there could be a particular navy benefit for South Korean navy forces,” he added.

Ukraine should not anticipate navy assist from South Korea

Butyrska stated the newest developments point out a probable additional cooling of ties between Kyiv and Seoul.

“The South Korean authorities wasn’t significantly pleasant towards us to start with, and can now seemingly hold its distance,” she stated, including that it could have been higher for Kyiv to have stayed quiet.

In return for a gesture of goodwill and “quiet foreign relations,” she added, Ukraine may need seen assist from South Korea in one other type — expertise, for instance, particularly by way of third nations. While South Korea is not immediately promoting weapons to Ukraine, it does ship to Poland, Finland, the Czech Republic and Romania, and it is pursuing additional integration with the European navy gear provide chain.

For Polishchuk, any cooperation on navy expertise between Ukraine and South Korea is out of the query, now and sooner or later. He believes commerce and humanitarian assist would proceed, nonetheless. South Korea, he stated, is extremely unlikely to facet with Russia, particularly given Seoul’s many obligations towards the United States.

This article was initially written in Ukrainian.