Seoul demands an apology: South Korea accuses Ukraine of betraying secrets

While Ukraine is defending itself against Russian troops in the fifth year of the war, it is clashing on a diplomatic level with a country that has previously been one of its political supporters: South Korea.

The background to this unusual conflict is the transfer of two North Korean soldiers who had been taken prisoner by Ukraine since last January. The men were among around 15,000 military personnel that North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un had sent to support Russia.

During his speech to the UN General Assembly, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made it public for the first time that the two soldiers had been transferred to South Korea - in accordance with their own wishes.

Although South Korean President Lee Jae-myung had also called for the North Koreans to be admitted, he criticized Zelensky for breaking a confidentiality agreement. The accusation is that the publication could cause North Korean relatives of the soldiers to suffer repression. Pyongyang is also likely to feel provoked that Seoul is accepting two defectors at all.

But the Ukrainian side did not let the accusation sit. Zelensky's communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn denied a nondisclosure agreement with Seoul. What speaks in favor of Kyiv's argument: After all, it was the South Korean government itself that always discussed the matter of the two North Korean prisoners of war in a highly public manner.

The dispute escalated on Monday. A spokesman for the presidential office in Seoul demanded an “apology and an official statement from Kyiv.” Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo also summoned the charge d'affaires of the Ukrainian embassy in Seoul.

A member of the government camp even threatened that all aid money to Ukraine should be cut: “There is no reason to support a country that does not comply with intergovernmental confidentiality agreements,” wrote Kim Byoung-joo on X.

Behind the dispute is also the increasing domestic political pressure that President Lee Jae-myung is currently experiencing. According to polls, his popularity is at its lowest point since he took office in June 2025. And many commentators even suspect behind closed doors that Lee is exploiting the diplomatic conflict to distract from his own crises at home.

A criticism from the conservative camp is also: Lee is afraid of angering North Korea's ruler Kim Jong-un, and therefore he avoids all sensitive topics - including the transfer of the two soldiers who defected.

But at the same time, the issue also shows a growing gap between the governments in Seoul and Kyiv. Ukraine is now frustrated that South Korea continues not to sell weapons to Kyiv despite its considerable arms industry.

At the same time, Seoul has again been purchasing more fuel from Russia, especially since the outbreak of the Iran War. The large Korean conglomerates are already in the starting blocks to gain access to the Russian market again. Hyundai Motors, for example, continues to maintain a representative showroom in the center of Moscow.

And while South Korea's government is now openly denouncing Kyiv, Lee Jae-myung is at the same time noticeably reluctant to criticize the North Korean regime - apparently because it would undermine its own efforts to improve inter-Korean relations.

Pyongyang not only actively supports Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, but also regularly makes threats against Seoul. Just a week ago, three South Korean soldiers were seriously injured in an explosion along the demilitarized zone. An investigation revealed that this was said to have been triggered by a North Korean landmine.