Inside Ukraine’s strange rift with a Nato ally over North Korea
South Korea should have been Ukraine’s natural ally in its war against Russia. Instead, Seoul and Kyiv have ended up in an unprecedented diplomatic rift no one saw coming.
A dispute over Ukraine’s handling of the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea has escalated into a full-blown bilateral crisis, with Seoul announcing that it was withdrawing some of its diplomatic personnel from Kyiv. It had already recalled its ambassador in protest.
Announcing the decision, the South Korean foreign ministry said on Tuesday that Kyiv had failed to take “constructive steps” to resolve the dispute, while persistent Russian airstrikes had also raised concerns over the safety of its diplomatic staff.
Seoul, though, would keep a Chargé d’affaires and essential personnel in Kyiv to maintain contact with Ukrainian authorities and assist South Korean citizens.
The dispute began last month after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky publicly announced at the UN General Assembly that Kyiv had transferred two North Korean soldiers captured fighting for Russia to South Korea.
Seoul accused Kyiv of breaching an agreement to keep the transfer confidential to protect the soldiers, but Ukrainian officials denied any such deal existed.
With South Korea’s international credibility at stake, president Lee Jae Myung reprimanded Ukraine in unusually harsh language, accusing Zelensky of “plotting for the outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula”.
The dispute soon escalating into a diplomatic row with Seoul recalling its ambassador to Ukraine.
A spokesperson for South Korea’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that Seoul was “still maintaining communication” while announcing the withdrawal of diplomatic staff.
“As I mentioned earlier, our goal is to seek an amicable resolution through close consultation with the Ukrainian side,” Park Doosoon said.
“We conveyed our clear position and requests over the pending issues between the two countries through various channels. It’s now up to the Ukrainian side to provide a response or take appropriate action on those matters.”
As bilateral relations deteriorated, Ukraine last week accused South Korea of supplying 31 per cent of Russia’s fuel imports in August.
South Korea “helped Russia offset the impact of losing its own refining capacity” caused by a Ukrainian attack on a major refinery, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, a Ukrainian expert on sanctions, claimed.
He said South Korea exported more than 176,000 tonnes of petroleum products to Russia in July and August.
