South Korean intelligence, which confirms that Ukraine captured two North Korean soldiers in the Russian region of Kursk and says it is participating in their interrogation alongside Ukrainian services, indicated that one of the captured soldiers had revealed during his interrogation that he had received military training from Russian forces after his arrival in November.
South Korean intelligence confirmed on 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 bunks hospital with bandages, one on his hands and the other on his jaw. 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 four to five 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 have occupied several hundred km2 since August 2024. But the soldiers had succumbed to their injuries.
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