Foreign Ministry: "Ambassador to Ukraine Returns Home This Morning"

Over disclosure of the repatriation of North Korean prisoners of war
Diplomatic tensions between the two sides expected to continue

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Park Gichang, South Korea's ambassador to Ukraine, returned to South Korea on the morning of the 10th.

The government decided on the 8th to recall Ambassador Park after Ukraine disclosed the repatriation of North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea and claimed that there had been no agreement to keep it confidential.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs sign. Courtesy of Yonhap News.

Government officials believe that even if Ukraine's breach of the confidentiality agreement was a mistake, its subsequent conduct continued to worsen the situation, making the ambassador's recall inevitable.

This is the first time in 19 years that the government has recalled an ambassador from a foreign posting as a protest, since the recall of the ambassador to Japan in 2008.

The government says it will "continue consultations with Ukraine" even after recalling the ambassador, but diplomatic tensions between the two sides are expected to persist for the time being.

Earlier, in response to the South Korean government's plan to recall its ambassador, Ukraine's diplomatic authorities said that "diplomacy should take precedence over emotions" and that they were "open to resuming constructive dialogue, even if it takes time."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.