Diplomatic disagreements broke out between South Korea and Ukraine; Seoul threatens consequences · BNN

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has threatened with “further actions” if Ukraine does not publicly apologize for letting the general public know about sending captured North Koreans to South Korea, writes the BBC.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced during the UN General Assembly last week that two North Koreans had been taken to South Korea, angering Seoul, which said the information was to remain secret.Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described what happened as a diplomatic misunderstanding, and added that Kyiv is working to resolve the situation. Li rejected the characterization, saying it affected the dignity of the Korean people and country. Li’s office reported last week that Ukraine had asked for the North Korean handover to remain secret, in part to protect the families of the prisoners of war and also because Kyiv wanted to avoid criticism of the lost possibility of swapping North Koreans for captured Ukrainians.Zelensky’s office further escalated the diplomatic situation by replying that there was no secrecy agreement between the two countries. After the information was made public, Li faced criticism at home when South Korea’s opposition suggested he covered up the prisoner-of-war transfer to please Pyongyang. Two soldiers, who are part of the thousands of North Koreans fighting on Russia’s side, previously told local media that they had expressed their desire to go to South Korea.Speaking to the Ukrainian media on the 1st of October, Sybiha said that she hopes the situation will be resolved in the near future. The Ukrainians are working on it, and South Korea is an important partner, and he hopes to achieve important results together.Li responded by accusing Kyiv of trying to bring war to the Korean Peninsula. He lamented that instead of acknowledging the facts of the agreement and apologizing, they are talking about an inevitable military conflict between the North and the South.Seoul has been favorable to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, but has stuck to its traditional policy of avoiding transferring lethal weapons to countries engaged in active hostilities.