Ukrainian Ambassador Returns Home After Recall in First Protest in 18 Years

Ambassador Park Ki-chang of South Korea to Ukraine returned home on the morning of the 10th, two days after the decision to recall him. The government decided on the 8th to recall the ambassador as a protest against the Ukrainian government.

This marks the first time in roughly 18 years that a South Korean ambassador has been recalled from a foreign post in protest, since July 2008, when the Japanese government authorized middle school textbooks claiming sovereignty over Dokdo and Seoul recalled then-Ambassador to Japan Kwon Chul-hyun.

The dispute stems from the transfer to South Korea of two North Korean prisoners of war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky disclosed the transfer, which the two countries had agreed to keep confidential, in a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York on September 23 (local time).