War in Ukraine | Seoul confirms Kyiv captured two North Korean soldiers

(Seoul) South Korean intelligence confirmed Sunday that Ukraine had captured two North Korean soldiers in the Russian region of Kursk, and said it was participating in their interrogation alongside Ukrainian services.

Ukraine, the United States and South Korea have accused nuclear-armed Pyongyang of sending more than 10,000 troops to help Russian forces.

“The national intelligence service [NIS]through real-time cooperation with the Intelligence Agency of Ukraine (SBU) […]confirmed that the Ukrainian army captured two North Korean soldiers on January 9 on the battlefield of Kursk, Russia,” the NIS said in a statement.

The SBU released a video on Saturday showing the two men in hospital bunks, one with his hands and the other with his jaw bandaged. A doctor at the detention center said the first man also had a broken leg.

South Korean intelligence statements support the information released by Kyiv, while neither Russia nor North Korea reacted. Neither country has so far confirmed the presence of North Korean soldiers on the Ukrainian front.

The AFP was unable to independently verify the nationality of the prisoners.

Significant losses

The NIS said one of the captured soldiers revealed during interrogation that he had received military training from Russian forces after arriving in November.

“He initially thought he was being sent for training, then realized upon arrival in Russia that he had been deployed” to the front, the NIS said.

The soldier said North Korean forces had suffered “significant losses during the fighting,” according to the source.

Seoul’s intelligence agency said one of the men was “deprived of food and water for 4 to 5 days before being captured.”

According to the SBU, the prisoners speak neither English nor Russian, and discussions are conducted in Korean with interpreters in cooperation with the South Korean service.

The NIS said it would continue to work with the SBU to share information on North Korean fighters in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that the soldiers, although injured, had been able to be transferred to Kyiv for questioning.

“It was not an easy task: usually the Russians and other North Korean soldiers finish off their wounded and do everything to erase evidence of the participation of another state, North Korea, in the war against “Ukraine,” he continued.

At the end of December, the Ukrainian president had already announced that two seriously injured North Korean soldiers had been captured in the Russian region of Kursk, where Ukrainian forces occupy several hundred km² since August 2024. But the soldiers had succumbed to their wounds.

Mutual Defense Treaty

The alleged involvement of a foreign army constituted a major escalation in the invasion of Ukraine launched nearly three years ago by Vladimir Putin and which is entering a critical phase with the imminent return of Donald Trump to the House -White.

Russia and North Korea have strengthened military ties since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, although neither side has confirmed that Pyongyang’s forces are fighting for Moscow.

Mr. Zelensky said in December that nearly 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been “killed or injured” there, while Seoul put the figure at 1,000. The same month, the NIS reported “several North Korean casualties.” » attributed to Ukrainian missile and drone attacks as well as training accidents, with the highest rank among casualties being “at least general level”.

The general staff of the South Korean forces has also observed preparations which make it believe that North Korea is preparing to dispatch new units to Russia, to reinforce or to relieve those already fighting, in addition to drones.

A historic mutual defense treaty between Pyongyang and Moscow, signed in June, recently entered into force. It provides for “immediate military aid” in the event of armed aggression by a third country.

North Korea is considered a major arms supplier to Russia for its conflict in Ukraine.