Ukraine apologizes for revealing North Korean POWs’ transfer to South Korea. Seoul says apology isn’t enough, vows ‘firm measures.’

Filed 1h ago · Via Meduza · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: European Parliament from EU · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

South Korea's foreign minister says Ukraine apologized for disclosing the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul, but that the apology falls short of what Seoul expects, with options including recalling its ambassador from Kyiv under consideration.

The disclosure came from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself, who announced the transfer publicly at the UN General Assembly despite what Seoul says was an agreement, one Ukraine itself proposed, to keep it quiet. The two POWs were captured in early 2025.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

You ask a neighbor to keep something quiet, he's the one who brings it up at the church supper in front of everybody, and then he's surprised you're sore about it. Zelensky stood at the podium of the UN and said the quiet part out loud, and now Seoul is deciding whether an apology delivered through diplomatic back channels covers the cost of being embarrassed on live television. Allies keep secrets for each other right up until somebody decides a bigger audience is worth more than the promise.

Source: Read the original at Meduza → Scored: Five Card Shuffle · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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