South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Friday warned that Seoul would take “further measures” if Ukraine refuses to publicly apologize over.
What he described as the unilateral disclosure of information about two North Korean prisoners of war sent to South Korea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that Kyiv had transferred two North Korean soldiers captured in Ukraine to South Korea. He said the soldiers were “not easy to capture alive.”
Zelensky’s remarks, made at the United Nations, drew an immediate response from Seoul. Lee expressed concern over the disclosure, while South Korean officials said maintaining confidentiality was important to protect the prisoners’ relatives from possible reprisatory action in North Korea.
South Korea subsequently demanded an official apology from Ukraine.
“If Ukraine continues to refuse to acknowledge the facts and publicly apologize, we will take further measures,” Lee said on Friday. He accused Kyiv of portraying him as a “liar” over the issue.
“This is a matter concerning the dignity of the Republic of Korea and its people and cannot be overlooked,” Lee said in a post on X.
Lee was responding to comments by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha published Thursday by RBC-Ukraine and other Ukrainian media outlets.
Sybiha played down the dispute, saying he would “not like to call it an incident” and instead describing it as a “diplomatic misunderstanding.”
“South Korea is an important country for us. And I very much hope for momentum, continued cooperation, and concrete results that we are indeed achieving with them,” Sybiha said.
The dispute comes as Seoul and Kyiv seek to maintain cooperation over issues linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine and North Korea’s involvement in the conflict.
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