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On the morning of the 2nd, President Lee Jae-myung warned that he would take "additional measures" if the Ukrainian government did not officially apologize for disclosing the repatriation of North Korean prisoners of war. However, specific measures were not disclosed.
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in a speech to the UN General Assembly that two North Korean prisoners of war had been repatriated to South Korea. The Korean government was immediately angry about this, saying it was a secret agreement.
On the 1st, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrei Sibikha described it as a "diplomatic misunderstanding" and explained that "we are working" to resolve it.
However, President Lee dismissed these claims through
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Last week, after President Zelenskyy's speech, the Blue House revealed that it was Ukraine that had requested that this measure be kept secret. The explanation is that it was to protect the families of North Korean prisoners of war and to avoid criticism that Ukraine had given up the opportunity to exchange its own prisoners of war.
In response, President Zelenskiy's office countered that the two countries had not agreed to keep the matter private, which further escalated the conflict.
Meanwhile, after President Zelenskyy disclosed this fact, President Lee faced strong opposition even within Korea. The opposition party pointed out that the president concealed the repatriation because he was afraid of offending North Korea.
While thousands of North Korean soldiers participated in the Ukraine War to help Russia, these two soldiers had previously expressed their desire to go to Korea through the Korean media.
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Meanwhile, on the 1st, Minister Sibiha said in an interview with his country's media, "I hope this situation will be resolved as soon as possible."
“We are working toward this. Korea is an important country for us, and we sincerely hope to maintain the momentum and continuity of cooperation we have built with Korea and see concrete results through this,” he said.
In response, President Lee accused Ukraine of “attempting to start a war on the Korean Peninsula.”
The President said through
Meanwhile, South Korea has taken a friendly stance toward Ukraine following Russia's full-scale invasion, but is sticking to its long-standing policy of not providing lethal weapons to any country currently at war.
