SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea placed overseas travel bans on three people as part of an investigation into alleged drone flights over North Korea that have deepened animosities between the rivals, authorities said Friday.
North Korea threatened retaliation earlier this month after accusing South Korea of launching a surveillance drone flight in September and again in January. The South Korean government denied operating any drones during the times specified by North Korea and began probing if civilians sent them.
The development threatens to further dampen prospects for a push by South Korea's liberal government to resume long-stalled talks with North Korea.
The three civilians put under travel bans include a man with the surname Oh who told South Korean media that he flew drones to check radiation levels at a North Korean uranium facility, according to a joint military and police investigation team.
The investigation team refused to give details about two other civilians except to say one was summoned for questioning in the past week.
South Korea media reported the trio has worked together for a drone manufacturer and that Oh and the person who was summoned worked as contract employees for the office of then conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol in 2022. The investigation team declined to confirm the reports.
President Lee Jae Myung has called for a thorough probe, saying unnecessary tensions with North Korea would cause negative impacts on the economy. Lee took office last June via a snap election arranged after the early departure of Yoon, who was dismissed as president over his ill-fated martial law imposition in late 2024.
Analysts say North Korea's drone accusations were likely driven by its efforts to dial up anti-South Korea sentiments ahead of the ruling Workers’ Party congress expected in late January or February. North Korea could add leader Kim Jong Un's declaration of a hostile “two-state” system on the Korean Peninsula in the party constitution during the congress, the first of its kind in five years.
There have been no public talks between the two Koreas since 2019 and drone flights are a source of animosity between the rivals.
North Korea accused South Korea in October 2024 of flying drones over its capital, Pyongyang, to drop propaganda leaflets. South Korea has accused North Korea of occasional drone flights over the border in the past decade.
In December 2022, South Korea fired warning shots, scrambled fighter jets and flew surveillance drones over North Korea in response to North Korea’s first alleged drone flights across the border in five years.
FILE - A soldier stands at a North Korean military guard post with the country's national flag, seen from Paju, South Korea, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the future of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region will be a key focus as negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States meet in Abu Dhabi on Friday for talks to end Russia’s nearly four-year full-scale invasion.
The three-way talks come hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the settlement in Ukraine with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys during marathon overnight talks. The Kremlin insisted that to reach a peace deal, Kyiv must withdraw its troops from the areas in the east that Russia illegally annexed but never fully captured.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, reiterated his openness to establishing a free trade zone under Ukraine’s control in the country’s east. He said he discussed the proposal with Trump in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, and told reporters: “I think it will be positive for our business."
It’s unclear if Friday's talks would see the Ukrainian and Russian sides meeting in the same room. Zelenskyy said that he would brief European partners of the outcome.
“Today’s meeting will be in the format of Ukraine, Russia and the United States, and afterward the Europeans will certainly receive feedback from us,” he told journalists in a WhatsApp audio message.
The Kremlin offered little detail beyond calling the meeting a “working group on security issues.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian delegation, headed by Adm. Kostyukov, comprises of military officials. He said the talks could extend into Saturday “if necessary.”
Separately, Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev will hold talks with Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff on economic issues, he confirmed.
The Kremlin meeting, which lasted past 3 a.m. Friday, came hours after Zelenskyy sharply criticized his European allies Thursday for what he cast as their slow and fragmented response that he said has left Ukraine at the mercy of Putin amid an ongoing U.S. push for a peace settlement.
Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, who participated in Putin’s meeting with Trump’s envoys Witkoff and Jared Kushner, said “it was reaffirmed that reaching a long-term settlement can’t be expected without solving the territorial issue.”
Zelenskyy said after meeting Thursday with Trump in Davos, Switzerland, that the future status of land in eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia remains unresolved but that peace proposals are “nearly ready.”
Ushakov noted that Trump’s envoys informed Putin about Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy, as well as earlier discussions they had with Ukrainian and European officials. The Kremlin talks that he described as “frank, constructive” and “fruitful” began when it was just before midnight in Moscow and lasted nearly four hours.
Witkoff and Kushner were joined by Josh Gruenbaum, the head of the Federal Acquisition Service who serves as a senior adviser on Trump’s Board of Peace that Russia has been invited to join. While Russia is considering the invitation, Putin reaffirmed his offer to send $1 billion to the board from Russian assets frozen in the U.S. to help fund rebuilding Gaza.
Asked about Putin’s proposal to use Russia’s frozen assets for the contribution to the Board of Peace, Trump said he thought it was fine. “If he’s using his money, that’s great,” he said
Zelenskyy met with Trump behind closed doors for about an hour at the World Economic Forum in Davos, describing the meeting as “productive and meaningful.”
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew back to Washington from Davos, Trump said his meeting with Zelenskyy went well, adding that both Putin and Zelenskyy want to reach a deal and that “everyone’s making concessions” to try to end the war.
He said the sticking points in talks remain the same as they’ve been during talks held during the past six or seven months, noting “boundaries” was a key issue. “The main hold-up is the same things that’s been holding it up for the last year,” he said.
Russia’s bigger army has managed to capture about 20% of Ukraine since hostilities began in 2014 and its full-scale invasion of 2022. But the battlefield gains along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line have been costly for Moscow, and the Russian economy is feeling the consequences of the war and international sanctions.
Ukraine is short of money and, despite significantly boosting its own arms manufacturing, still needs Western weaponry. It is also short-handed on the front line. Its defense minister last week reported some 200,000 troop desertions, and draft-dodging by about 2 million Ukrainians.
Addressing the World Economic Forum after meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy listed a litany of grievances and criticisms of Europe.
European countries, which see their own future defense at stake in the war on its eastern flank, have provided financial, military and humanitarian support for Kyiv. But not all members of the 27-nation European Union are helping. Ukraine also has been frustrated by political disagreements within Europe over how to deal with Russia, as well as the bloc’s at times slow-moving responses.
“Europe looks lost,” Zelenskyy said in his speech, urging the continent to become a global force. He contrasted Europe’s response with Washington’s bold steps in Venezuela and Iran.
The former comic actor referred to the movie “Groundhog Day,” in which the main character must relive the same day over and over again.
“Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words: Europe needs to know how to defend itself. A year has passed. And nothing has changed. We are still in a situation where I must say the same words again,” Zelenskyy said.
He chided Europe for being slow to act on key decisions, spending too little on defense, failing to stop Russia’s ”shadow fleet” of oil tankers that are breaking international sanctions, and balking at using its frozen assets in Europe to finance Ukraine, among other things.
Hrabchuk reported from Kyiv, Ukraine and Manenkov from Davos, Switzerland. Josh Boak on Air Force One, Meg Kinnard in Houston and Ali Swenson from Washington contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting on the development of domestic integrated electronics at the Kremlin in Moscow, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, greets U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin, in Moscow, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, greets U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff, center, and Jared Kushner at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin, in Moscow, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, greet U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff, centre left, Jared Kushner, second right, and Josh Gruenbaum, the head of the Federal Acquisition Service at the General Services Administration, at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin, in Moscow, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
