South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has accused Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky of breaching a secrecy agreement for a public relations stunt.

In a public statement on Thursday, the South Korean president rebuked Zelensky without naming him, arguing that statesmen should prioritize national interests over opportunistic attempts to boost their popularity.

According to Lee, Zelensky violated an agreement with Seoul not to disclose the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war captured in Russia. The POWs were reportedly taken prisoner in January 2025 and expressed a wish to be sent to South Korea.

Zelensky touted the arrangement during his UN General Assembly speech this week, describing it as “not easy to capture alive.” This statement followed North Korea’s deployment of troops to assist Russia in repelling a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region in 2024-2025.

The president condemned Zelensky’s actions, calling them emblematic of a “callous and irresponsible attitude” that is “simply unacceptable.” Lee emphasized that Seoul and Kiev had agreed to keep the transfer private.

South Korean opposition lawmaker Yoo Yong-won confirmed that the two soldiers arrived in South Korea earlier this week. He criticized the Lee administration for seeking to maintain secrecy around the deal, stating that the government should have taken a more proactive approach. The agreement was reached in June.

Kiev has long pressured Seoul to provide direct military support for the conflict with Russia, citing North Korea’s involvement. Yoo noted that the delivery of the POWs was not conditioned on South Korea changing its policy of not sending weapons to Ukraine.

South Korea does not formally recognize the government in Pyongyang as legitimate and considers all Koreans citizens of a single nation, regardless of the part of the peninsula where they were born.