Lee wrote on X that the disclosure could endanger the prisoners' relatives in North Korea and damage relations between Seoul and Pyongyang. He called the situation a disgrace and said he did not know what circumstances had prompted the Ukrainian side to violate the agreement.
The South Korean president was responding to Volodymyr Zelensky's address to the UN General Assembly, in which the Ukrainian president spoke about the transfer of the prisoners to South Korea.
Lee also said state decisions should be made in the interests of the country and its citizens, not to boost the popularity of the ruling administration or those in power. According to him, there had been calls inside South Korea to publicize the repatriation because it would help raise approval ratings, but after weighing the possible problems, the sides concluded that confidentiality was the right step.
The office of the Ukrainian president rejected the claim of an agreement. A source at RBC-Ukraine told the outlet that Kyiv had not promised to conceal the transfer of the North Korean prisoners. According to the source, Ukrainians have the right to know what is happening on any given issue concerning prisoners. The interlocutor added that Ukraine did not disclose any significant details of the process.
Dmitry Peskov, press secretary to the Russian president, said the Kremlin has no information about the transfer of the two prisoners to South Korea. According to him, prisoner-of-war matters are handled by the Defense Ministry and Russian special services.
North Korean service members fought on Russia's side in the Kursk region. Moscow and Pyongyang initially did not confirm their participation in the war, but in April 2025 the authorities of Russia and the DPRK officially acknowledged the involvement of North Korean military personnel in combat operations. Ukraine reported the capture of two North Korean service members in the Kursk region in January 2025, which South Korea's intelligence agency also confirmed.