South Korea to withdraw some embassy staff from Ukraine as row over POW transfer deepens

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea said Tuesday it will withdraw some staff from its embassy in Kyiv, deepening a diplomatic row over Ukraine’s announcement last month of a transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war that Seoul says was meant to be secret.

The diplomatic dispute between the countries began after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed the prisoners’ transfer during a Sept. 23 speech at the United Nations. South Korea has accused Ukraine of violating a nondisclosure agreement, but Ukraine denies the countries reached such a deal, further angering Seoul.

South Korea recalled its ambassador to Ukraine earlier this month in protest. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told local media at the time that Kyiv remains open to “constructive dialogue” and that “diplomacy must prevail over emotions.”

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Park Doosoon said Tuesday that the withdrawal of additional embassy staff was due to Ukraine’s “lack of constructive steps” to address Seoul’s grievances as well as concerns about safety amid intensifying Russian attacks.

Park did not specify how many staff members would withdraw or when. He said South Korea would keep its charge d’affaires and essential personnel in Kyiv to maintain contact with Ukrainian authorities and assist South Korean citizens.

“We are still maintaining communication, and, as I mentioned earlier, our goal is to seek an amicable resolution through close consultation with the Ukrainian side,” Park said. “We conveyed our clear position and requests over the pending issues between the two countries through various channels. It’s now up to the Ukrainian side to provide a response or take appropriate action on those matters.”

The two soldiers Ukraine handed over to South Korea were among thousands of North Korean troops deployed to support Russia’s war against Ukraine. Captured in early 2025, they said in media interviews that they hoped to resettle in South Korea, fearing persecution if they were returned to the North. South Korea, which in its constitution claims to be the legitimate government of the entire Korean Peninsula, has long accepted and financially supported North Korean defectors.

South Korean officials said the nondisclosure agreement was intended to protect the soldiers and their relatives in North Korea, although some experts say President Lee Jae Myung’s liberal government may have also feared that publicizing their arrival could undermine its efforts to improve ties with North Korea.

North Korea’s state media hasn’t commented on the soldiers’ transfer. The North has previously reacted with fury to high-profile defections by its citizens, sometimes accusing South Korea of kidnapping them.

Relations between the Koreas have sharply deteriorated in recent years, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un taking a hard-line stance toward Seoul and moving to sever inter-Korean ties while accelerating his nuclear weapons program amid a diplomatic stalemate with Washington.