South Korea has decided to recall its ambassador to Kyiv amid disagreements with Ukraine over the handling of North Korean prisoners of war.
According to Yonhap, the decision was announced in a statement by South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"The government has decided to recall its ambassador to Ukraine to Seoul. We hope that the various issues between the two countries will be properly resolved and will continue consultations with the Ukrainian side to achieve this goal," the ministry said.
The ministry reiterated that Seoul would continue diplomatic consultations with Kyiv to resolve the outstanding disagreements.
Earlier, South Korea's presidential office expressed "deep regret" after Ukraine denied the existence of an alleged confidentiality agreement concerning the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea.
Dmytro Lytvyn, an adviser to the Ukrainian president on communications, wrote on Facebook that no non-disclosure agreement had been reached and argued that it would be inappropriate to conceal the destination of transferred prisoners.
In response to an inquiry from Yonhap, Ukraine's Presidential Office explained that Kyiv had disclosed only the fact of the transfer, without revealing details of the process.
South Korea subsequently received an apology from Ukraine over the disclosure of information concerning the transfer of the two North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul. However, the South Korean government considered the apology insufficient.
