South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara on Wednesday, in their first in-person meeting since Lee took office.
Zelensky was one of only a handful of leaders with whom Lee held separate bilateral talks during the summit, alongside the leaders of Canada, Norway and Romania, as support for Ukraine remained a central item on the alliance’s agenda.
The meeting lasted 43 minutes from noon, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
The meeting came as South Korea and Ukraine confront a growing common security challenge arising from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and North Korea’s subsequent military support for Moscow, including the deployment of thousands of troops and weapons supplies.
North Korea’s involvement in the war has also created a new diplomatic issue for Seoul and Kyiv: the fate of two North Korean prisoners of war whose capture by Ukrainian forces was publicly disclosed in January 2025.
The issue has drawn growing attention in South Korea over whether they will be allowed to resettle in South Korea in accordance with their own free will. The South Korean government has said the two North Korean POWs have expressed wishes to settle in South Korea.
