President Lee Jae Myung accuses Ukraine of violating a confidentiality agreement after Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed the transfer of two North Korean prisoners to South Korea

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung accused Ukraine on Thursday of violating a confidentiality agreement after Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed, in a speech delivered at the UN General Assembly, that two North Korean prisoners of war captured in Russia’s Kursk region had been transferred to South Korea.

Zelenskyy said that the North Korean soldiers had been captured alive by Ukrainian forces during fighting in 2025. In a message posted on the X platform, Lee Jae Myung said he did not understand why the Ukrainian side had made the information public and described the situation as “very disappointing.”

The South Korean president stressed that the transfer of the prisoners is an extremely sensitive issue, with possible consequences for diplomacy, security and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. His reaction came after Seoul’s opposition criticized the fact that the public learned about the prisoners’ arrival from a foreign leader.

Approximately 15,000 North Korean troops fought alongside Russian forces in operations to retake territory in Kursk occupied by Ukraine in August 2024. The two prisoners said they wanted to lead normal lives in South Korea. Under the South Korean Constitution, North Korean citizens are also considered citizens of South Korea, a provision that has also been applied to soldiers captured in the Russia-Ukraine war.