South Korea has demanded an apology from Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly disclosed the secret transfer of North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea, breaching a confidentiality agreement between the two governments. Seoul summoned Ukraine's ambassador to lodge a formal protest.

South Korean officials said the arrangement to repatriate the North Korean soldiers captured while fighting for Russia in Ukraine was meant to remain undisclosed. The revelation, they argued, violated an understanding reached at the highest levels and complicated sensitive diplomatic handling of the detainees.

The episode has injected rare public friction into the Seoul-Kyiv relationship, which had been built on South Korea's support for Ukraine since the Russian invasion. Officials in Seoul said they expect Kyiv to acknowledge the breach, while Ukrainian authorities have not yet issued a formal response in the reporting available so far. Analysts say the row underscores how politically sensitive the handling of captured North Korean personnel remains, given Seoul's long-standing policy on defectors and prisoners of war.