Oct 22 (Reuters) – South Korea’s international aid agency has decided to bring back one of its two staff members from its office in Ukraine’s capital on safety grounds, the Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday.
Kyiv has come under increasingly heavy Russian drone and missile attacks in recent weeks, more than 4-1/2 years after Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.
South Korea has also been caught up in a diplomatic dispute with Ukraine and withdrew its ambassador this month after accusing Kyiv of breaching a confidentiality agreement over the transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers to the South.
The decision by the Korea International Cooperation Agency to repatriate the aid agency staff member was made after a safety meeting, Yonhap said in its report.
It cited an official from the agency who did not mention the dispute over the prisoners of war. The other staff member would stay in Kyiv, it added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the UN General Assembly in September that Ukraine had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to the South.
He said the men had been sent there after being captured while fighting for Russia.
The disclosure breached an understanding to keep the transfer confidential so as to protect the soldiers and their families in the North, Seoul said.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim in Barcelona; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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