Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha will meet with his South Korean counterpart Cho Hyun in Paris to discuss restoring bilateral dialogue between the two countries. The talks are scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting, which is being held in France on November 9 and 10.
Hromadske reported the upcoming meeting, citing a diplomatic source. It comes after several weeks of deteriorating relations between Kyiv and Seoul, triggered by a dispute over the fate of two North Korean servicemen captured in Ukraine while fighting on Russia’s side.
How the diplomatic dispute began
On September 23, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN General Assembly that the two North Koreans had been transferred to South Korea. Seoul later said that the two countries had reached an understanding that the information would remain confidential for the sake of the servicemen’s safety and that of their families.
The Ukrainian side denied that any official written agreement on withholding the information had existed. South Korea’s intelligence service, however, told parliament that it was Ukraine that had initially requested confidentiality during talks on the prisoners’ transfer.
On October 8, South Korea recalled its ambassador to Kyiv, Park Ki-chan, and demanded an official explanation and apology. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said he had received a message from Sybiha containing an apology, but that it had not met Seoul’s expectations. The South Korean Foreign Ministry then stated: “We hope that the various issues between the two countries will be resolved smoothly, and we will continue consultations with the Ukrainian side.”
An attempt to restore relations
The upcoming talks in Paris will be the first direct meeting between Sybiha and Cho Hyun since the dispute intensified. They will take place at a time when the two sides continue to maintain differing positions on whether a promise of confidentiality had been made.
South Korean authorities insist that the disclosure of the information undermined trust between the governments. Kyiv, for its part, maintains that there was no formal agreement that could have been violated. Despite the disagreements, Seoul said it continued to support international efforts on behalf of Ukraine and the sanctions policy against Russia, while treating that policy separately from the bilateral dispute with Kyiv.
The meeting is part of a series of bilateral talks Sybiha is holding in Paris with representatives of the G7 countries and invited partners. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has not publicly announced details of the agenda for the talks with the South Korean minister.
Sources: hromadske.ua, en.yna.co.kr, apnews.com