- Lee Jae Myung warns of “additional measures” against Kyiv unless it apologises over the disclosed transfer of two North Korean POWs, in an escalating diplomatic dispute between the two countries
SEOUL 4 OCTOBER 2026 (Agencies) – South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has accused Ukraine of attempting to provoke a war on the Korean Peninsula, amid an escalating diplomatic dispute over Kyiv’s public disclosure of the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea.
In a statement on October 2, Lee warned that Seoul would take “additional measures” against Ukraine unless it acknowledges what South Korea says was an agreement to keep the transfer confidential and issues a public apology. “If the refusal to acknowledge the facts and issue a public apology continues, we will take additional measures,” Lee said, adding that South Korea’s national dignity was at stake. He said Ukraine’s denial of a confidentiality agreement was “making the head of state of another country out to be a liar.”
The dispute began after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly announced the transfer of the two North Korean soldiers during a September 23 address to the UN General Assembly, saying it had not been “easy to capture them alive.” Lee said the previous day that Ukraine’s decision to disclose the transfer was “deeply regrettable,” explaining that the two sides had agreed to keep it confidential after considering various problems its disclosure could cause. A South Korean official has said Ukraine had informed Seoul in advance that Zelensky would mention the POWs in his speech, though without providing details of what he would say.
Lee objected particularly strongly to subsequent Ukrainian comments touching on a potential military confrontation between North and South Korea, saying he expressed serious regret that, rather than acknowledging the alleged agreement and apologising, Ukrainian officials had instead spoken of an imminent military clash between the two Koreas, “as if wishing for the outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula.” He described this as “attempting to provoke a war on the Korean Peninsula.” Lee did not specify which comments he was referring to, though Zelensky’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said in a recent interview that North Korea was learning lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war and building up its military capabilities in a way that could prepare it for combat operations in its own region.
The two North Korean soldiers were captured by Ukrainian forces in January 2025 while fighting alongside Russian troops in Russia’s Kursk region, where North Korean personnel helped repel a Ukrainian incursion. They are the first North Korean soldiers known to have been captured alive during the war, and their transfer could give South Korean intelligence services access to information on North Korean military training and battlefield experience gained through their deployment to Russia. At the time of their capture, Zelensky said Ukraine was prepared to return captured North Korean soldiers to Kim Jong Un in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Russia, while also saying other arrangements could be explored for soldiers who did not wish to return home. South Korea’s Constitution defines the entire Korean Peninsula as its territory, a position under which Seoul has previously said it would consider accepting North Korean soldiers who sought to defect, though neither of the two transferred soldiers has publicly expressed such intent. North Korea’s National Intelligence Service has said captured soldiers were found with memos indicating North Korean authorities had emphasised self-destruction and suicide rather than capture.
South Korea’s own spy agency has said Seoul provided no assistance to Ukraine in connection with the POW transfer. South Korea has, for more than four years and across three administrations, consistently resisted Western pressure to send armaments to Ukraine, a position that contrasts with that of other Western-aligned states supporting Kyiv.