South Korea will withdraw additional personnel from its embassy in Ukraine, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, in a deepening diplomatic dispute over North Korean prisoners of war, Reuters reported.

South Korea had already recalled its ambassador this month after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the UN General Assembly that Ukraine had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea. Seoul said the disclosure breached an understanding to keep the transfer confidential so as to protect the soldiers and their families in North Korea.

Seoul told Ukraine of its position through multiple channels but had not received a sufficient response, ministry spokesperson Park Doo-soon told a regular press briefing on Tuesday, without saying how many staff would leave. 'This measure was taken because we judged it necessary to facilitate an amicable resolution of the issue and restore trust between the two countries,' Park said, according to Reuters.

A charge d'affaires would stay in Kyiv to maintain diplomatic communication, along with all consular staff, in order to protect South Korean nationals, Park added. He also said persistent air-strike threats across Ukraine had made it difficult to ensure staff safety.

Ukraine's side is different. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told the RBC-Ukraine news outlet last week that Kyiv considered the matter closed, attributing the dispute to differing interpretations of the confidentiality arrangements and saying Ukraine had fulfilled all its obligations, Reuters reported.

The two soldiers were among North Korean troops captured while fighting alongside Russian forces against Ukraine — a deployment that has drawn both Seoul and Kyiv into the wider Russia-Ukraine war's diplomacy.

Sources: Reuters (Seoul, Oct 20); Devdiscourse syndication of the Reuters report.