Notes found on dead North Korean soldiers indicate that North Korea encourages its soldiers to commit suicide to avoid capture.
North Korea is encouraging its soldiers deployed to Russia to fight against Ukraine to commit suicide to avoid capture, a South Korean lawmaker reported Monday citing Seoul's intelligence service.
Encouraged to commit suicide
While neither Russia nor North Korea reacted, South Korean intelligence confirmed this Sunday, January 12, that two North Korean soldiers had indeed been captured by Ukraine in the Russian region of Kursk.The two men were taken prisoner and were interrogated by Ukrainian and South Korean authorities. Pictures in detention of the two suspected soldiers as well as a video were published by the SBU (the Ukrainian intelligence services).
Our soldiers captured troops from North Korea in Kurshchyna. These are two soldiers who, although wounded, survived, were taken to Kyiv, and are communicating with SBU investigators.
This task was not easy: usually the Russians and other military personnel from North Korea finish off their wounded… pic.twitter.com/mo7Gr1z85o
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1878046095890133403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Moreover, “Notes found on dead soldiers indicate North Korean authorities pressured them to commit suicide”and buy in “getting blown up […] before capture”explained to journalists, MP Lee Seong-kweun relaying information from South Korean intelligence.
300 North Korean soldiers killed at the front
North Korean forces also reportedly suffered heavy losses “during the fighting”explained the NIS (South Korea's intelligence agency) after the interrogation. Before his capture by the Ukrainian army, one of the soldiers notably “was deprived of food and water for 4 to 5 days before being captured”specified the NIS.Some 300 North Korean soldiers were killed out of thousands deployed by Pyongyang in Russia to support its war against Ukraine, Lee Seong-kweun said Monday, citing Seoul's intelligence service.
“Estimates indicate that the number of casualties among the ranks of the North Korean forces exceeded 3,000, including approximately 300 dead and 2,700 injured”Lee Seong-kweun said after a South Korean intelligence briefing.
