Statements about prisoners from the DPRK: the President of South Korea threatens to take measures against Ukraine

02.10.2026, 11:06◉ 02 min readEditorial team “SHCHO STALOSIA”

On Friday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung threatened to take additional measures against Ukraine if Kyiv does not acknowledge the existence of a confidentiality agreement to hand over two North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul and not will apologize. Ukrinform.

Statements about prisoners from the DPRK: the President of South Korea threatens to take measures against Ukraine

“If the refusal to acknowledge the facts and make a public apology continues, we will take additional measures,” Lee wrote on X, without specifying what measures he was referring to.

At the same time, Ukraine seeks to resolve the dispute and establish relations with South Korea, said Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga.

“I don't want to call it an incident. Let's say this is a diplomatic misunderstanding," Sybiga told reporters during one of the events, Ukrainian media reported on Thursday.

The dispute comes at a sensitive time for the Lee administration as it tries to de-escalate tensions with the DPRK while facing the political ramifications of the recent landmine incident in the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas.

Cho Han Bum, a senior fellow at the Korea Institute of National Unification in Seoul, suggested that possible additional measures could relate to the support that South Korea is already providing to Ukraine, in particular the humanitarian, financial and reconstruction assistance.

Context

The diplomatic dispute between Seoul and Kyiv has been going on since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN General Assembly last month that Ukraine had handed over two North Korean prisoners of war captured during hostilities on the side of Russia.

After that, Seoul accused Kyiv of violating the agreement on the confidentiality of the transfer concluded to protect prisoners of war. Ukrainian officials instead denied the existence of any such agreement.

What's next

According to South Korean media, on Friday, a senior South Korean Foreign Ministry official told reporters that South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Seabiga are in direct contact contacts and discuss what kind of reaction Seoul expects and what Kyiv can accept given the military circumstances in Ukraine and the need to prevent loss of face by any of the parties.