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human migration

South Korea recalls Ukraine ambassador over North Korean POW dispute

Illustration accompanying article: South Korea recalls Ukraine ambassador over North Korean POW dispute
  • South Korea said Thursday it will recall Ambassador Park Hee-chang from Ukraine, escalating a dispute over the public disclosure of two North Korean prisoners of war transferred to Seoul.
  • The underlying dispute traces to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Sept. 23 UN General Assembly speech, in which he discussed the transfer; Kyiv denies any agreement to keep the move secret.
  • The two soldiers were captured in early 2025 while serving with North Korean forces deployed to support Russia's war against Ukraine, and had expressed a desire to resettle in South Korea to avoid persecution.
  • South Korea has provided $445 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine since 2022 and President Lee Jae Myung pledged an additional $100 million in July during a meeting with Zelenskyy.
 2026-10-08 · 3 MIN READ

Burundi agrees to accept US third-country deportees

Illustration accompanying article: Burundi agrees to accept US third-country deportees
  • Burundi's government agreed Tuesday to accept migrants deported from the United States under third-country arrangements, joining several African nations participating in the Trump administration's deportation policy.
  • Authorities in Bujumbura said Burundi will accept only those not accused of crime or terrorism links, according to presidential spokesperson Nancy Ninette Mutoni, with no figures provided on numbers, timing, or financial details.
  • The US has sent third-country deportees to roughly half a dozen African nations and many other countries, often where they have no ties, have never been, and find themselves detained indefinitely under opaque deals that Senate Democrats say have cost tens of millions of dollars.
  • Rights groups say the third-country arrangements allow Washington to circumvent immigration-court protections some deportees had secured against repatriation.
  • Mutoni said that if deportees "choose to join Burundian citizens and make a valuable contribution to national development, the law will be respected" regarding potential citizenship.
  • The US State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and a Burundi foreign ministry spokesperson said details of the agreement were not yet available.
 2026-09-30 · 4 MIN READ
Illustration accompanying article: Supreme Court lets Trump resume third-country deportations