President Lee: "Ukraine Broke Confidential Agreement on Repatriating North Korean POWs... Deeply Regrettable"

[Financial News] President Lee Jae-myung criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on September 24 for announcing during his UN address that Ukraine had sent two North Korean prisoners of war captured by its military to South Korea, saying, "I do not know what circumstances led to this, but it is deeply regrettable."
President Lee made the remarks in a post on X (formerly Twitter), saying, "They disclosed it after breaking the confidential agreement."
President Lee explained, "The repatriation of North Korean POWs to South Korea is an extremely sensitive issue that could have a major impact on diplomacy, national security and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Considering the various problems that could arise from making it public, keeping it confidential was reasonable in every respect, and that is what we agreed to do."
He rebutted conservative opposition parties that had criticized the government for not disclosing the repatriation of the North Korean soldiers, saying, "It is wrong to criticize a reasonable and justified decision to keep the matter confidential."
He continued, "From the perspective of those who, regardless of what happened to inter-Korean relations, whether people died or whether the national interest was harmed, would have beaten gongs, danced and advertised the repatriation of the POWs to the whole world to flaunt their achievement, the government's efforts to keep the matter confidential would not only be difficult to understand but might even prompt them to wonder, 'Is there some problem here?' They could not be more cruel and irresponsible."
President Lee said, "Surely there must have been internal voices calling for the repatriation of the North Korean POWs to South Korea to be made public, as it would clearly have helped recover the government's approval rating," adding, "We call people who harm another person's life, the national interest and national security for their own petty gain murderers or traitors."
He added, "I sincerely pray that the inhumane wars in which countless people are killed or injured and everything is destroyed will end at an early date."

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