South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday expressed concern over Volodymyr Zelensky’s public disclosure of the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war (POWs) to South Korea, saying the Ukrainian president had violated an agreement to keep the move private.

In a statement posted on X, Lee took aim at the Ukrainian leader after a political debate arose in South Korea over the presidential Blue House’s initial silence on the transfer of the two POWs, who were apprehended in Russia’s Kursk region in early 2025.

“I do not know what circumstances led the Ukrainian side to disclose