SOUTH KOREA RECALLS ITS AMBASSADOR FROM UKRAINE
South Korea has announced that it will recall its ambassador from Kyiv as the diplomatic dispute between Seoul and Ukraine continues to escalate.
The recall is connected to President Zelenskyy’s public disclosure that two North Korean soldiers captured while fighting for Russia had been transferred to South Korea. Seoul maintains that both governments agreed to keep the transfer confidential because of security, diplomatic and humanitarian concerns, including possible danger to the soldiers’ families in North Korea. Ukraine has disputed Seoul’s account of that agreement.
South Korea demanded an official explanation and public apology. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha reportedly sent a message containing an expression of apology, but South Korea said it did not meet the level Seoul expected.
Recalling an ambassador is a serious diplomatic protest, but it does not mean South Korea has severed relations with Ukraine. Seoul did not announce the closure of its embassy and said consultations with Kyiv would continue, expressing hope that the dispute could still be resolved.
The decision comes as tensions are also rising over fuel shipments that departed South Korean ports for Russia, although Seoul’s Foreign Ministry officially connected the ambassador’s recall to the North Korean prisoner dispute.
Two captured soldiers from a country actively supplying Russia with troops have now become the center of a widening dispute between Ukraine and South Korea—two nations that have strong reasons to cooperate against the growing military partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang.