National Assembly foreign affairs committee holds overseas national audit

Ukraine 'cannot deny' confidential agreement existed, envoy says

Members of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee conduct a national audit at the South Korean Embassy in London on Thursday (local time). [Yonhap]
Members of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee conduct a national audit at the South Korean Embassy in London on Thursday (local time). [Yonhap]

South Korea's Embassy in Ukraine said Sunday (local time) that Kyiv has taken seriously President Lee Jae Myung's expression of concern over the public disclosure of negotiations on the repatriation of North Korean prisoners of war.

Yoon Ji-wan, the embassy's acting ambassador and minister-counselor, made the remarks at a national audit conducted by the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee at the South Korean Embassy in Warsaw. "Ukraine is taking the South Korean government's and president's expression of position very seriously," he said.

"We demanded an apology and judge that a sufficiently clear apology has not been made," Yoon said. "We continue to convey our position in accordance with instructions, and Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working through internal consultations to reach a positive resolution."

On Volodymyr Zelensky's public disclosure of the North Korean POW repatriation on Sept. 23 (local time), Yoon said it appeared that even Ukrainian officials who had been in working-level contact with Seoul were not fully aware of the matter, suggesting that the contents of Zelensky's UN speech had not been properly shared in advance within Ukraine's own foreign affairs apparatus.

He also said Ukraine has yet to offer a specific explanation for why it made the matter public, adding that "there had been no discussion at all about when to disclose it, and many felt it would be best to keep it confidential for as long as possible."

After the POW repatriation became public and Ukraine denied the existence of a confidential agreement, South Korea demanded an apology and recalled Ambassador Park Ki-chang on Oct. 8. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun had said earlier, on Oct. 6, that Seoul received a message from Ukraine that "included words of apology," but added, "However, it fell short of the level we had in mind, so we intend to take firm measures."

Meanwhile, Yoon said at the audit that "there are many critical voices within Ukraine as well — criticism that there was no internal consultation, and that the confidential commitment was broken on impulse." He added, "There is no further rebuttal from the Ukrainian side. We understand they are in a position where they cannot deny that a confidential agreement existed."

On the pace of Ukraine's response, Yoon said it appeared to be "taking quite some time to coordinate and respond to the president's remarks."

In response to a question about whether the diplomatic dispute arose from a failure to formally document the confidential agreement in writing, Yoon said that "formalizing a diplomatic agreement in a document is in effect a treaty," indicating it would be difficult to publicly release concrete evidence of the agreement.

He struck a conciliatory note on the broader bilateral dispute, however, saying, "Both sides consider the POW repatriation an enormously significant achievement." He added, "There is a shared understanding that the relationship between the two countries must be built on stability and trust, and that this issue must be resolved wisely."

Yoon attended the audit via video link in his capacity as acting ambassador. Lee Seok-bae, the ambassador to Russia, also participated remotely after Moscow's airport was closed due to a Ukrainian drone strike. The audit covered the South Korean embassies in Poland, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.


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