{"id":72299,"date":"2026-09-27T16:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T20:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/south-korea-slams-ukraine-over-un-disclosure-of-north-korean-pow-transfer\/72299\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T16:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T20:38:11","slug":"south-korea-slams-ukraine-over-un-disclosure-of-north-korean-pow-transfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/south-korea-slams-ukraine-over-un-disclosure-of-north-korean-pow-transfer\/72299\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea Slams Ukraine Over UN Disclosure of North Korean POW Transfer"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>South Korea\u2019s presidential office expressed &quot;strong regret&quot;<\/strong> after Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly revealed the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war (POWs) during a United Nations General Assembly speech.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Blue House claims a bilateral confidentiality agreement was breached<\/strong>, asserting that the transfer was intended to remain secret to protect the safety of the POWs and their families.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ukraine has denied the existence of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA)<\/strong>, with officials stating it would have been &quot;strange&quot; to keep the repatriation entirely hidden from the international community.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The diplomatic rift has triggered domestic controversy in Seoul<\/strong>, as President Lee Jae-myung faces criticism over the handling of the sensitive security matter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The South Korean presidential office has issued a sharp rebuke of the Ukrainian government, demanding an official explanation and apology following the public disclosure of a North Korean POW transfer. The dispute centers on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u2019s address to the <strong>United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)<\/strong> on September 23, where he confirmed that two North Korean soldiers captured in Russia\u2019s Kursk region had been sent to South Korea.<\/p>\n<p>According to Seong Ghi-hong, South Korea\u2019s senior presidential secretary for public relations, the two nations had a firm agreement to keep the transfer confidential due to <strong>security and diplomatic concerns<\/strong>. Seoul argued that publicizing the move could endanger the soldiers&#39; families remaining in North Korea and complicate the security environment on the Korean Peninsula. The presidential office noted that while Ukraine did provide a brief prior notice that the topic might be mentioned, it did so without <strong>sufficient prior consultation<\/strong> on the specific phrasing or extent of the disclosure.<\/p>\n<p>The situation has escalated into a &quot;he-said, she-said&quot; diplomatic row as Kyiv denies the existence of any formal secrecy pact. Dmytro Lytvyn, a communications adviser to President Zelenskyy, stated that &quot;there was no such agreement&quot; and argued that concealing the whereabouts of specific prisoners would be improper. In response, Seoul characterized Ukraine\u2019s denial as a &quot;false announcement&quot; that <strong>severely hampers bilateral trust<\/strong> and damages the friendly relations between the two countries.<\/p>\n<p>Domestically, the disclosure has sparked a political firestorm for President Lee Jae-myung. Critics and opposition members have questioned the administration\u2019s transparency, while the presidential office maintains that keeping the transfer quiet was a <strong>&quot;reasonable and justifiable&quot;<\/strong> strategy aimed at managing a highly sensitive humanitarian issue. South Korean officials are currently reviewing &quot;additional measures&quot; to address the breach of trust, signaling a potential cooling of relations even as both nations continue to navigate the complexities of North Korea&#39;s involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways South Korea\u2019s presidential office expressed &quot;strong regret&quot; after Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly revealed the transfer of two [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[4824,5042,5136,6291,6682,8037,8120,10179],"class_list":["post-72299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-geopolitics","tag-ukraine","tag-south-korea","tag-nda","tag-north-korea","tag-diplomatic-relations","tag-unga","tag-un-general-assembly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}