South Korea demands Ukraine apology over denial of confidential deal on North’s prisoners of war

South Korea's presidential office has demanded an apology from Ukraine for denying an agreement to keep the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul confidential.

The incident came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the United Nations that his country had sent two North Korean soldiers to the South, adding they were "not easy to capture alive".

Hours later, South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung said on X, "I do not know why the Ukrainian side broke the agreement and made the matter public, but it is very disappointing."

As a response to this, Mr. Zelenskyy's aide Dmytro Lytvyn told journalists that Ukraine was "an open country" and that it would have been strange to hand over the soldiers in secret.