[Anchor]
The South Korean government has announced its decision to recall its ambassador to Ukraine in protest of Ukraine's unilateral disclosure of the repatriation of North Korean prisoners of war. Although Seoul received an apology message from Ukraine, it decided to take a hard-line stance, stating that the apology fell short of expectations.
Kim Hye-young reports.
[Anchor]
The government announced that it has decided to recall Park Ki-chang, the South Korean Ambassador to Ukraine.
Recalling an ambassador to one's home country is a diplomatic measure to convey a strong protest to the counterpart country without severing diplomatic ties.
While there are past precedents, such as recalling the ambassador to Japan in 2001 over Japan's distortion of history textbooks and in 2008 over its territorial claims to Dokdo, it is a rare measure with few precedents since then.
This conflict began on September 23, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed at the UN General Assembly that two North Korean prisoners of war had been repatriated to South Korea.
[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Ukrainian President (September 23) : Recently, we sent to the Republic of Korea two North Korean prisoners of war captured by Ukrainian forces.]
The South Korean government pushed back, stating that Ukraine unilaterally made the information public despite an agreement between the two countries to keep the repatriation confidential.
The conflict escalated further as Ukraine denied the existence of the confidentiality agreement.
President Lee Jae-myung personally demanded an apology, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Ukrainian chargé d'affaires to lodge a protest.
Although Ukraine's foreign minister subsequently sent an apology message, the government signaled decisive action, saying the response fell short of expectations.
[Cho Hyun / Minister of Foreign Affairs (October 6) : Because there is a gap with the level we had expected, we intend to take decisive measures.]
The government stated, "We hope the pending issues between the two countries will be resolved smoothly and will continue consultations with the Ukrainian side."
However, it added, "The actual timing of our ambassador's return will be determined taking into account the progress of consultations," indicating that Ukraine's future response will likely be a variable.
Camera by Cho Chun-dong | Video by Yoon Tae-ho | Graphics by Kang Yoon-jung
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