Key facts
- South Korea recalled its ambassador to Ukraine, Park Ki-chang, on Thursday.
- The ambassador returned to Seoul on Saturday.
- The recall was in protest of Ukraine's disclosure of North Korean prisoners of war being transferred to South Korea.
- Seoul claims Kyiv breached a non-disclosure agreement regarding the transfer.
- Kyiv denies that such an agreement existed.
South Korea's ambassador to Ukraine, Park Ki-chang, returned to Seoul on Saturday after being recalled by the foreign ministry in protest of Kyiv's disclosure of the transfer of North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea. The recall followed a dispute over whether an agreement to keep the transfer confidential had been breached.
Ambassador Park arrived two days after the foreign ministry announced the recall. The ministry stated that the recall was in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's disclosure of the transfer and Kyiv's subsequent denial that it had agreed with Seoul to keep the matter confidential.
According to South Korean officials, the two North Korean soldiers were captured in January 2025 while fighting for Russia in the Kursk region and arrived in South Korea in mid-September. Seoul maintains that a non-disclosure agreement was reached with Kyiv at Ukraine's request to protect the soldiers and their families, who remain in North Korea. South Korea asserts that Zelenskyy breached this agreement when he revealed the transfer during an address to the U.N. General Assembly last month.
Kyiv, however, has stated that there was no such agreement. The foreign ministry announced the recall on Thursday, noting that it is rare for the government to recall an ambassador as a form of protest, with the last instance occurring in 2008 when its envoy to Japan was recalled. "We hope that various issues between the two countries will be resolved smoothly, and we will continue consultations with the Ukrainian side to that end," the ministry said.