Help rescue animals from the front line — shop our Companion Collection 🐾

Shop Now

Politics

Lee Jae Myung at a news conference in Seoul, South Korea, on Sept. 18, 2026.
Politics

'Blown out of proportion' — Domestic politics at the core of South Korea's rift with Ukraine

by Karol Luczka

Seoul's diplomatic spat with Kyiv continues to deepen, but experts say it is less about Ukraine than about South Korea's own politics. The East Asian country, traditionally counted among Ukraine's partners in the region, announced on Oct. 8 that it is recalling its ambassador from Kyiv amid a dispute over North Korean prisoners of war (POWs). The rift started on Sept. 23 with President Volodymyr Zelensky telling the U.N. General Assembly that Kyiv had transferred two North Korean POWs, capture

News Feed

Death is a master from Russia

At the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, while in my hometown of Kyiv, I wrote an essay in German for a German website titled "Russia Dehumanizes the World." The Ukrainian translation of this text, published under the title "The Dehumanization of the World," was included in my new book, "Сплески" ("Splashes"). The essay ends as follows: "War. The Russians are near. Death is near. Death is a master from Russia. We are still here. We, Ukrainians. We, human beings. We,

Empty graves after the exhumation of bodies from mass burial sites in Izium, Ukraine, on Nov. 4, 2022.
News Feed