Zelenskyy says Ukraine transferred 2 North Korean POWs to South Korea

Ukraine has transferred to South Korea two North Korean soldiers captured while fighting alongside Russian forces last year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this week.

Zelenskyy announced the transfer during a speech Wednesday at the United Nations General Assembly in New York but provided few details, including when or how the prisoners were moved.

South Korea declined Thursday to confirm that the two soldiers had arrived.

The government has worked with Ukraine and other countries and agencies on the issue but cannot confirm Zelenskyy’s statement because of privacy and security concerns, a South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman told Stars and Stripes by text.

This screenshot from a video posted to X by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Jan. 12, 2025, purports to show a North Korean prisoner of war captured by Ukrainian forces. (X)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Sept. 6, 2024. (Eve Daugherty/U.S. Air Force)

She said the ministry also would not discuss the prisoners’ movements or negotiations between Seoul and Kyiv because of security concerns for the soldiers and their families. Some South Korean government officials must speak to the media on condition of anonymity.

“The South Korean government respects the free will of those people and has maintained the position that it should be resolved in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles,” she said.

Rep. Yu Yong-weon of the main opposition People Power Party told reporters at the National Assembly on Thursday that the POWs arrived in South Korea several days ago, The Korea Herald reported that day.

Zelenskyy announced in January 2025 that Ukrainian forces had captured the two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region, where North Korean troops had deployed to support Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

They are the only surviving North Korean troops publicly known to have been captured by Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022.

During his U.N. speech Wednesday, Zelenskyy accused North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of using his citizens “like currency” in exchange for Russian assistance in North Korea’s ballistic missile and drone capabilities.

“These guys are not easy to capture alive,” Zelenskyy said. “One of them, when he realized he was going to be taken prisoner, tried to kill himself, and he was shocked that fate didn’t let him die.”

He continued: “And this is how they raise people in the North. It’s reality. They take away their freedom. They take away their right to choose, and they drill into them that they must die no matter what.”

Zelenskyy posted a video on X and Facebook on Jan. 12, 2025, showing the wounded soldiers being questioned through an interpreter.

At the time, he said he was willing to return them to North Korea in exchange for Ukrainian troops held by Russia but that there were “other options available” for soldiers who did not want to return.

Zelenskyy and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung later discussed the prisoners and agreed that their wishes should be respected in determining their future.

A South Korean Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman said at a June briefing that Seoul would accept North Korean POWs who wanted to defect.

North Korea has sent approximately 13,000 troops to support Russia’s war effort, about 3,000 of whom died in combat in 2024, the BBC reported in July.

Zelenskyy warned in June that as many as 50,000 additional North Korean troops could eventually be sent to war, according to that report.

Stars and Stripes reporter Yoojin Lee contributed to this report.