On Saturday January 11, Ukraine claimed to have captured, in the Russian region of Kursk, two North Korean soldiers who were questioned by its intelligence services, a first since kyiv accused Pyongnyang of having sent troops to fight in Russia.
The next day, this Sunday, January 12, in the morning, South Korean intelligence confirmed that Ukraine had captured two North Korean soldiers in the Russian region of Kursk and participated in their interrogation alongside Ukrainian services. A little later in the day, Volodymyr Zelensky said he was “ready” to hand over the two soldiers to Pyongyang as part of a prisoner exchange.
Following Zelensky’s proposal, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov declared on Monday: “We cannot comment in any way. We don’t know what’s reality in that.”
“Other possible options” for North Korean soldiers who will speak
“Ukraine is ready to hand over its soldiers to Kim Jong Un if he can organize their exchange for our fighters who are detained in Russia,” the Ukrainian president wrote on his X account. He added, in the evening, “ that there will undoubtedly be more North Korean soldiers captured in the future by kyiv.
“For North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return (to their country), there could be other possible options,” Zelensky continued: those who “tell the truth about this war in Korean will have this opportunity to other possible options.
Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has acknowledged that North Korean soldiers were deployed to fight Ukrainian forces.
This Sunday evening, Zelensky again declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot now do without Pyongyang’s military support.”
Pressure to commit suicide
Some 300 North Korean soldiers were killed out of the thousands deployed by Pyongyang in Russia to support its war against Ukraine, a South Korean lawmaker said on Monday, citing Seoul’s intelligence service.
Ukraine, the United States and South Korea have accused nuclear-armed Pyongyang of sending more than 10,000 troops to help Russian forces in their invasion.
“Estimates indicate that the number of casualties among the ranks of North Korean forces has exceeded 3,000, including around 300 deaths and 2,700 injuries,” Lee Seong-kweun told reporters after a South Korean intelligence briefing. .
“Notes found on dead soldiers indicate that North Korean authorities pressured them to commit suicide,” including “blowing themselves up before capture,” the elected official continued.
South Korea has spoken of units considered “cannon fodder”, possibly exchanged for Russian technological aid as the nuclear-armed North seeks to strengthen its arsenal.
According to MP Lee Seong-kweun, memos recovered from corpses reveal that North Korea is using “soldiers’ hopes of joining the Workers’ Party (in power in North Korea, Editor’s note) or benefiting from an amnesty » to send them into battle, suggesting that some might be prisoners in their country.
North Korean soldiers taken prisoner by Ukraine: Kremlin refuses to comment
The Kremlin on Monday refused to comment on the statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who said he was “ready” to hand over to Pyongyang two North Korean soldiers, captured in the Russian region of Kursk where Ukraine controls several hundred square kilometers.