By Kyu-seok Shim and Rishabh Jaiswal
“The presidential office expresses strong regret over Ukraine’s unilateral disclosure and its subsequent false announcement that there had not been a non-disclosure agreement,” Seong Ghi-hong, senior presidential secretary for public relations, said in a statement released on Sunday.
He said the government was reviewing additional measures over the issue if necessary. Seong said Ukraine had repeatedly discussed the prisoners’ transfer with Seoul through various channels and had requested secrecy, arguing that public disclosure could trigger domestic criticism that Kyiv had given up an opportunity to exchange the soldiers for Ukrainian prisoners. South Korea agreed to keep the transfer confidential given security, diplomatic and humanitarian concerns, including the safety of the prisoners and their families, he said. Ukraine later disclosed the transfer in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s address to the United Nations General Assembly without sufficient prior consultation and subsequently denied the existence of any confidentiality agreement, according to the statement. Seong said the denial had seriously damaged trust between the two governments and could harm bilateral relations. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung days earlier said Ukraine had disclosed the transfer in breach of a non-disclosure agreement.
Seoul and Kyiv had been discussing a possible transfer after the two soldiers expressed a desire to go to South Korea, according to an opposition lawmaker in Seoul.
