South Korea announced Thursday it is pulling its ambassador out of Kyiv in retaliation for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's disclosure that the two allies had secretly swapped captured North Korean soldiers between them, a rupture that has stunned diplomats watching the two countries' once-close wartime partnership unravel in public.

The Seoul government said Ambassador Park Ki-chang will be recalled, though it has not said when, following days of threats from President Lee Jae Myung that Ukraine would face "unspecified punitive steps" unless it apologized. The dispute traces back to Zelenskyy's address to the UN General Assembly on September 23, when he revealed that Ukraine had handed over two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea. Seoul says the transfer, which took place in mid-September, was supposed to stay confidential to protect the soldiers and their families back home; Kyiv denies any such nondisclosure agreement existed.

The two soldiers were captured fighting for Russia in early 2025 and have asked to resettle in South Korea, saying they would face persecution if repatriated to the North. Seoul, which constitutionally treats North Korea as part of its own territory, has a long-standing policy of accepting and financially supporting defectors. North Korean state media has not commented on the transfer, though Pyongyang has previously accused Seoul of "kidnapping" defectors and has refused talks with Washington and Seoul since 2019.

Diplomacy "must prevail over emotions"

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry struck a conciliatory tone in response. Spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said Kyiv remains open to renewed talks even if healing the rift takes time, according to reporting from NBC News.

DIPLOMACY MUST PREVAIL OVER EMOTIONS.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry, for its part, said only that "the government has decided to recall its ambassador to Ukraine" and that it hopes the matter is "resolved amicably," while pledging to keep consulting with Kyiv.

The spat is awkward for both sides. South Korea has sent $445 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion, and Lee personally pledged another $100 million when he met Zelenskyy in July, according to Euronews. Analysts cited by multiple outlets note that Seoul has strong strategic reasons to stay close to Kyiv, which holds rare battlefield intelligence on North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces — intelligence Seoul badly wants as thousands of North Korean soldiers remain deployed on Russian soil. Some observers suggested Lee's government is also wary that the public disclosure could complicate its own quiet efforts to improve relations with Pyongyang.

For Zelenskyy, the UN disclosure appears to have been a calculated move: observers say he raised the POW transfer to spotlight North Korea's deepening military support for Russia's war and to drum up further international backing for Ukraine, even at the cost of straining ties with one of its quieter benefactors.

Neither government has set a timetable for resolving the standoff. South Korea's Foreign Ministry says consultations with Kyiv will continue, and Ukrainian officials have signaled they want the relationship back on track, but with an ambassador now being withdrawn from Kyiv and no apology yet offered, the diplomatic chill between the two capitals shows no sign of thawing immediately.