South Korea and Ukraine are moving to repair relations strained for weeks by a dispute over two captured North Korean soldiers, after their foreign ministers met in person in Paris this week for the first time since the fallout. South Korea's Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told Ukraine's Andrii Sybiha on Tuesday that mutual respect, trust and the faithful implementation of agreements are the basic preconditions for developing ties between the two countries, South Korea's foreign ministry said, as Seoul pressed its case over Kyiv's disclosure of the prisoner transfer. The talks were held on the margins of the G7 foreign ministers' meeting in Paris, which South Korea attended as an invited country.

Source: Aju Press (AJP)

Sybiha struck a conciliatory note. Quoted by Reuters, he said relations between the two countries were on the road to recovery, that the dispute had been rooted in differing interpretations of confidentiality arrangements, and that Ukraine had fulfilled all its obligations. Seoul's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Cho had expressed hope that outstanding issues between the two countries would be resolved smoothly, and the two sides discussed maintaining humanitarian aid and reconstruction support.

Source: Reuters

How the row began

The dispute dates to September 23, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the UN General Assembly that Ukraine had sent two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea. The two soldiers — the first North Korean troops taken prisoner in the war to be transferred to South Korea — had been captured in Russia's Kursk region in January 2025 and reportedly arrived in South Korea in mid-September. Seoul says the two governments had agreed to keep the transfer confidential to protect the soldiers and their families still in North Korea, and President Lee Jae Myung called the disclosure a breach of that agreement. Ukraine's presidential office denied any such agreement existed, saying it would be unusual to hand over the soldiers in secret, and Kyiv says Seoul was informed in advance of Zelenskyy's intention to mention the transfer.

The fallout was swift. On October 8 South Korea recalled its ambassador to Ukraine, Park Ki-chang — Seoul's first protest recall of an envoy in 18 years — and on October 20 it announced plans to withdraw embassy personnel, citing the unresolved dispute and security concerns amid Russian attacks, a development Awaaz Punjab reported at the time. The Paris meeting was the two foreign ministers' first in-person encounter since then.

The earlier escalation — Seoul pulling embassy staff from Ukraine over the prisoner row — was reported here: South Korea pulls more embassy staff from Ukraine in row over North Korean prisoners

North Korea has sent an estimated 14,000 to 15,000 troops to support Russia's war against Ukraine since 2024, according to Ukrainian and South Korean estimates, most of them deployed in the Kursk region. The fate of captured North Korean soldiers is diplomatically sensitive for Seoul: South Korea treats North Koreans as its own citizens under its constitution, while public disclosure of a transfer can expose the men's families in the North. Neither side has disclosed the two soldiers' identities or their current whereabouts.

What happens next: both ministries say the Paris conversation is a start, not a settlement. Seoul is still pressing its point that agreements must be honoured, while Kyiv maintains it broke no understanding. Whether South Korea returns its ambassador to Kyiv and restores the embassy to full strength will be the clearest sign that the reset is real.