South Korea demands an apology from Ukraine for disclosing the secret transfer of two North Korean prisoners

Filed 2h ago · Via Meduza · The Buffoon Desk

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Comic Hero

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Number 10 · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

South Korea's presidential office is demanding an apology from Ukraine for publicly disclosing the transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers to Seoul, saying Kyiv had asked for secrecy over concerns the handover could provoke backlash in Ukraine since the prisoners weren't exchanged for Ukrainian troops. Seoul says it agreed to keep quiet for diplomatic and humanitarian reasons, including the safety of the prisoners and their families.

The dispute surfaced after President Volodymyr Zelensky told the U.N. General Assembly on September 23 that Ukraine had transferred the two soldiers to South Korea. A Zelensky adviser denied any secrecy agreement existed, saying it would be wrong to hide where the prisoners ended up.

Seoul's office says the disclosure has seriously damaged trust between the two countries. Ukraine's embassy had not commented at the time of the Reuters report.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Two governments each insist the other one is lying about a handshake deal nobody wrote down, which is usually how these things go when everyone wants credit and nobody wants blame. Zelensky gets a diplomatic headline out of announcing it at the UN; Seoul gets stuck explaining why it agreed to hide something it now says it never should have hidden. Somewhere in the middle of that argument are two prisoners who probably didn't get a vote either way.

Source: Read the original at Meduza → Scored: Comic Hero · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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