Episode Details

Silicon Bites SW26-229 | 2026-10-12 | Seoul recalls its ambassador from the only country killing Kim Jong Un's soldiers, South Korea’s main adversary, that it’s still technically at war with, and calls it diplomacy. It’s not – it’s strategic lunacy, utterly myopic, and borderline abusive. What the ‘F’ is S. Korea thinking? Two soldiers of the Korean People's Army were captured in the snow of Russia's Kursk region in January 2025. Kim Jong Un had sent them to kill Ukrainians for Vladimir Putin. Ukraine kept them alive. Ukraine fed them. And after months of talks, Ukraine handed them to Seoul, because they had asked to go south – defect from the prison camp that is North Korea. ----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/scaling-up-campaign-to-fight-authoritarian-disinformation----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.org----------SOURCES:Al Jazeera — "Zelenskyy says Ukraine sent two North Korean POWs to South Korea" (24 Sep 2026)Al Jazeera — "South Korea, Ukraine relations sour over North Korean POW transfer" (27 Sep 2026)Reuters via The Star — "South Korea summons Ukraine envoy in protest over North Korean POW transfer" (28 Sep 2026)The Korea Times — "Seoul eyes ambassador recall as Ukraine's POW apology fails to meet expectations" (7 Oct 2026)The Korea Times — "Korea decides to recall ambassador to Ukraine over NK POW dispute" (8 Oct 2026)The Korea Herald — "South Korea recalls envoy to Ukraine amid growing friction" (8 Oct 2026)Herald Business — "South Korea recalls ambassador to Ukraine, says talks to continue despite apology gap" (8 Oct 2026)Meduza — "Ukraine apologizes for revealing North Korean POWs' transfer…" (6 Oct 2026)Kyiv Post — South Korea weighs ambassador recall (Oct 2026)Ukrainska Pravda — "Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on recall of South Korean ambassador" (8 Oct 2026)Korea JoongAng Daily — "'Diplomacy over emotions': Kyiv seeks to mend ties with Seoul" (Oct 2026)Militarnyi — "More than 176,000 tonnes of fuel shipped from South Korea to Russia, including on sanctioned tankers – The Guardian" (Oct 2026)----------