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Two opposition lawmakers offered differing assessments Thursday of the government’s handling of two former North Korean prisoners of war who recently arrived in South Korea after being captured while fighting for Russia in Ukraine, with both voicing frustration but diverging sharply in tone.
Rep. Joo Jin-woo of the main opposition People Power Party took to X(formerly known as Twitter) to sharply criticize the government’s broader security and North Korea policy. In a post titled “North Korea Attacks With Mines While the South Takes Care of North Korean Soldiers First — South Korea Is in a State of Security Anarchy,” Joo wrote that the government “brought two North Korean soldiers to South Korea through some kind of negotiation with the Ukrainian government,” adding, “Our own troops were killed by a North Korean mine — is this really the time for that?”
According to Reuters, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the 81st U.N. General Assembly in New York on Wednesday that Ukraine had recently sent two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea. The two were seized by Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region in January last year. Rep. Yu Yong-weon, also of the People Power Party, told reporters the same day that the pair left Ukraine last weekend, transited through a third country, and arrived in South Korea three to four days earlier.
The remarks came days after an unexplained explosion on Sept. 21 wounded three Army officers conducting a search operation in the Demilitarized Zone under the 25th Infantry Division, which oversees the western front near Paju and Yeoncheon in Gyeonggi Province. Yu and others have suggested the blast may have been caused by mines planted by North Korea south of the Military Demarcation Line, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff is reportedly consulting with the U.N. Command on the possibility. Joo’s criticism appeared directed at the timing of the POWs’ transfer, which came shortly after the mine incident.
Joo also claimed Unification Minister Chung Dong-young was considering 670 billion won ($480 million) in aid to North Korea, that Gyeonggi Gov. Choo Mi-ae was weighing 150 billion won in support for North Korean infants, and that President Lee Jae-myung was pushing to lift U.N. sanctions on North Korea. “South Korea is currently in a state of security anarchy,” Joo wrote. “If the president has voluntarily given up command of the armed forces, he should step down.”
Yu, in a separate Facebook post the same day, welcomed the two men’s arrival itself. “I sincerely welcome the arrival in the Republic of Korea of the two North Korean POWs who chose freedom,” Yu wrote, expressing “deep respect and support” for what he called their courageous decision after surviving the horrors of the battlefield. He also thanked the Ukrainian government and South Korean intelligence authorities for their cooperation.
Still, Yu voiced disappointment that the news broke through Zelenskyy’s remarks rather than an official announcement from Seoul. “As a sovereign state, and as the entity responsible for embracing and protecting these men as South Korean citizens, our government should have taken a more proactive and assertive approach,” he said.
Yu said he personally traveled to Ukraine in February last year and interviewed the two men, and had since repeatedly urged the government to pursue their repatriation in line with their stated wishes. He also cited Zelenskyy’s U.N. speech, in which the Ukrainian leader said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was “trading young people like currency,” and argued Pyongyang was using the lives of its soldiers to acquire advanced Russian military technology. “The most urgent task now,” Yu said, “is helping these two young men settle securely into our society.”
While both lawmakers expressed frustration with the government’s response, their emphasis diverged. Joo leveled sweeping criticism at the administration’s broader North Korea policy — including aid programs and efforts to lift sanctions — going so far as to suggest the president should resign. Yu, by contrast, welcomed the POWs’ arrival itself and limited his criticism to how the government communicated and handled the announcement.
