Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said South Korea asked Kyiv to hand over the North Korean soldiers who were repatriated to Seoul, his first direct comment on a transfer that has strained relations between the two countries over whether they agreed to keep it confidential.
In an interview with Reuters published on the 4th, Zelenskyy said South Korea had asked Ukraine to hand over the North Korean soldiers. Under the South Korean constitution, they are South Korean citizens, he said, adding that Ukraine therefore transferred the two men. Reuters reported that he did not directly address President Lee Jae-myung's accusation that Ukraine had broken a confidentiality agreement.
The remarks come as a diplomatic dispute has flared between the two countries since Ukraine disclosed the repatriation at the United Nations General Assembly last month.
In a post on X on the 2nd, Lee said Ukraine had requested that the repatriation be kept confidential and that Seoul had agreed, only for Kyiv to disclose it unilaterally. When the South Korean president expressed regret as politely as possible, Lee wrote, Ukraine denied that any such agreement existed, in effect calling a head of state a liar. He added that when Seoul asked Kyiv to acknowledge the agreement and apologize, Ukraine instead raised the prospect of an imminent inter-Korean military clash, and said he expressed serious regret toward a Ukraine that was seeking to provoke war on the Korean Peninsula.
Zelenskyy also suggested Russia may have shared jet-powered drone technology with North Korea. Asked whether he believed Moscow had transferred its latest jet-powered drone technology to Pyongyang, he said yes, of course. He said Russia is sharing all of its technology with North Korea, adding that he was less certain about ballistic missiles but believed that was also the case, because North Korea had helped Russia with missiles.
Russia has said it will step up attacks on Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, a response to Zelenskyy's pledge to expand strikes on Russian oil refineries.
