Seoul intelligence agency says Kyiv sought secrecy before North Korean POW transfer

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said Ukraine initially requested confidentiality during negotiations to transfer two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea, contradicting public statements from Ukrainian officials that no nondisclosure agreement existed.

In a closed-door briefing to lawmakers Wednesday, the NIS said the two countries shared an understanding that the transfer would remain confidential. It cited discussions between their foreign ministers and contacts involving South Korea’s embassy in Kyiv and Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry. The agency said it did not know whether the countries’ presidents had reached a separate agreement.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Dmitro Litvin previously wrote that “there was no agreement to remain silent.” South Korea has expressed regret over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s disclosure of the transfer during his Sept. 23 address to the U.N. General Assembly and has sought an explanation and apology, according to the NIS. Ukraine had not apologized as of Wednesday, the agency said.

The NIS assessed that Zelenskyy disclosed the transfer in hopes of building South Korean public support for assistance to Ukraine, including weapons. It said, however, that Ukraine imposed no conditions on the handover and Seoul promised no aid in return.

The soldiers, captured by Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region in January 2025 after being deployed in support of Moscow, had expressed a desire to go to South Korea. The NIS said they arrived there in mid-September without major health problems. North Korea has not publicly commented on the transfer.