South Korea plans to pull some of its diplomats out of Ukraine, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday, Oct. 20, citing Kyiv’s handling of a dispute over two North Korean prisoners of war. Yonhap, in a report stamped 14:58 Seoul time (10:58 p.m. PT Monday), the earliest this desk found, says ministry spokesperson Park Doo-soon told a regular press briefing that Ukraine has yet to take “positive steps” to resolve the dispute over Kyiv’s “unilateral disclosure” of the transfer, and that airstrike threats have made the safety of diplomatic staff hard to ensure. The AP, in a story by Kim Tong-hyung carried by KIRO 7, says the move deepens “a diplomatic row over Ukraine's announcement last month of a transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war that Seoul says was meant to be secret.”
Outlets quote Park in different English wording. The Korea Herald quotes him: “The government has decided to withdraw some embassy personnel, taking into account the absence of any constructive steps by the Ukrainian side following the recall of our ambassador, as well as the persistent threat of airstrikes across Ukraine, which makes it difficult to ensure their safety.” Al Jazeera, in a story credited to AFP and Reuters, quotes a different line: “This measure was taken because we judged it necessary to facilitate an amicable resolution of the issue and restore trust between the two countries.” The AP quotes him saying: “It’s now up to the Ukrainian side to provide a response or take appropriate action on those matters.”
The ministry gave no official number. Park did not give a number or a date, the AP reports. Yonhap says the ministry declined to confirm the exact number “but officials said roughly half of the staff would leave Ukraine,” and the Korea Herald says a foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, put the share at about half while the size of the mission “remains classified.” Both outlets say the chargé d’affaires, whom the Korea Herald names as Yoon Ji-wan, and all consular staff will stay. Park, quoted by the Korea Herald: “All consular personnel will remain in place to ensure the continued protection of South Korean nationals.”
The two outlets frame the timing differently. Yonhap says the personnel “are expected to withdraw after helping evacuate around 85 South Korean nationals currently in Ukraine to neighboring countries.” The Korea Herald says the timing “has yet to be determined and will depend on security conditions on the ground and the progress of diplomatic consultations with Kyiv,” counts 85 South Korean nationals in Ukraine as of Tuesday afternoon, not counting embassy staff, and says Seoul has already told the Ukrainian government. Yonhap and the Korea Herald say South Korea keeps its highest, Level 4 travel advisory in force across Ukraine.
The dispute dates to Sept. 23, when Zelenskyy disclosed at the U.N. General Assembly that Ukraine had handed two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea, per the AP and Korea Herald. Yonhap says the pair, captured in January 2025 while fighting for Russia in Russia’s Kursk region, arrived in South Korea in mid-September, according to South Korean officials. Seoul says the two governments had agreed to keep the transfer confidential to protect the soldiers and their families in North Korea; Yonhap says Foreign Minister Cho Hyun has also said Ukraine initially asked that the matter stay private. The AP says Ukraine denies that any such deal existed, and BBC News Ukrainian says Dmytro Lytvyn, a communications adviser to Zelenskyy, denied it.
The Korea Herald says the ministry summoned Ukraine’s acting ambassador on Sept. 28, and that Cho told lawmakers on Oct. 6 that Ukraine had sent a message with an expression of apology that fell short: “The level was different from what we had expected, so we intend to take firm measures.” Al Jazeera (AFP and Reuters) says the message “included words of apology,” per Cho. BBC News Ukrainian, however, cites a source in Ukraine’s government who says Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha did not apologize. The Korea Herald says Ambassador Park Ki-chang, recalled in protest, returned home on Oct. 10.
After the recall, Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said Kyiv remains open to “constructive dialogue” and that “diplomacy must prevail over emotions,” the AP reports, a remark also carried in Ukrainian by BBC News Ukrainian and KP.ua. BBC News Ukrainian says Tykhyi, at an Oct. 7 briefing, put the public exchange down to differing readings of the confidentiality arrangements, said Ukraine transferred the prisoners taking their written wishes into account, and said Sybiha had voiced regret to his Korean counterpart that the matter became public. Yonhap says Sybiha later called the controversy “a closed matter,” according to foreign media reports, and Al Jazeera says Kyiv considered “the situation resolved.” This desk found no Ukrainian comment on Tuesday’s decision as of this story.
The Korea Herald says South Korea last withdrew diplomatic staff from Libya in 2015 and Afghanistan in 2021 because of worsening security, and that, unlike those cases, this decision comes during a dispute with the host government. The AP says the two soldiers have said in media interviews that they hoped to resettle in South Korea, fearing persecution if returned to the North, and that some experts say President Lee Jae Myung’s government may also have feared that publicity could hurt its outreach to North Korea; the AP adds that North Korea’s state media has not commented on the transfer. Still open: the exact number of staff leaving, the date, and any response from Kyiv.
