SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea said Thursday it will recall its ambassador to Ukraine, escalating a diplomatic dispute over President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s public disclosure that Kyiv had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to Seoul, the Associated Press and BBC News reported.
The Foreign Ministry did not say when Ambassador Park Hee-chang would return home, the AP said. In a statement, the ministry said it would “continue consultations with the Ukrainian side” and expected that “various outstanding issues” would be resolved smoothly. Seoul says Ukraine broke an agreement to keep the transfer secret; Zelenskyy’s office says no non-disclosure agreement existed.
Zelenskyy revealed the transfer in his U.N. General Assembly speech on Sept. 23. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called it “greatly disappointing” and a “highly sensitive issue” affecting national security, and had threatened unspecified punitive steps if Ukraine did not apologize. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said this week that he had received an apology from his Ukrainian counterpart that fell short of expectations, but Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said Wednesday that Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had not apologized, the BBC reported.
The two soldiers were among thousands of North Korean troops sent to support Russia’s war and were captured in early 2025; they had said they wanted to resettle in South Korea. Seoul says secrecy was meant partly to protect their families in the North. South Korea has given Ukraine $445 million in humanitarian aid since 2022 and pledged $100 million more in July, but refuses to supply lethal weapons.
Sources: Associated Press (via NPR), BBC News, DW
—
