Ukraine denies South Korea's claim of confidential North Korean POW transfer agreement

Kyiv has denied Seoul's claim that the two parties agreed to keep the recent transfer of two North Korean prisoners-of-war to South Korea confidential, sparking criticism from President Lee Jae Myung's political opponents.

Regarding Seoul's claim that Kyiv had broken their consensus, Dmytro Lytvyn, communications adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Friday, "There was no such agreement, this is not true."

"And it would be wrong to conceal the whereabouts of specific prisoners," Lytvyn also wrote.

Lytvyn's remarks came in a reply to a Facebook post by Ukrainian journalist Oksana Torop Friday.

Zelenskyy revealed the transfer of the POWs held captive by Ukrainian forces while fighting alongside Russia during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Lee wrote on his X post that Seoul and Kyiv had reached an agreement to keep the POW transfer confidential after "considering various problems that its disclosure to the public could have caused." He also called the decision to keep the matter confidential "reasonable and justifiable."

"I don't know the circumstances that led the Ukrainian side to break the agreement and disclose the information, but it is deeply regrettable," he added.

Lee in the same X post also likened those sacrificing human lives, national interest and national security for personal gain to "murderers or traitors," adding he could have sought his approval rating rebound through his own disclosure of the POW transfer but he did not make such a decision.

Following Kyiv's denial of Lee's argument, there are calls for both parties to reveal the truth about Seoul's decisionmaking process over the transfer of POWs.

Main opposition People Power Party's Rep. Park Sung-hoon on Saturday urged the Lee administration to clarify when the decision to keep matters confidential was made, by whom it was made, what breaches Ukraine had made regarding the consensus, and Seoul's grounds that the confidentiality was a necessary measure to ensure the POWs' safety.

"One side claims an agreement was violated, while the other maintains that no such agreement existed. Instead of pointing fingers, the government must first disclose the actual details of the agreement to the public," Park said.

He added that President Lee was expressing outrage on his X post "as if a massive gift intended for (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-un had fallen through."

Rep. Park Jie-won of the ruling Democratic Party on his Facebook Saturday slammed Seoul for being unable to reveal the transfer on humanitarian grounds, adding that the liberal government had failed to explain the circumstances to the ruling party and therefore neglected the party.