Ukraine has captured two wounded North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia in a border area with Russia, South Korean intelligence said, confirming an account by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday.
Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told AFP that it “has confirmed that Ukrainian troops kidnapped two North Korean soldiers on January 9 at the Kursk battlefield in Russia.”
The confirmation comes after Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app that two North Korean soldiers had been captured and wounded and taken to Kyiv, where he was in contact with Ukraine’s SBU security forces.
The SBU has released a video that appears to show two prisoners on beds in prison cells. The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.
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In this unverified photo shared by the Ukrainian military, a captured North Korean soldier with injuries sits on a bed inside a cell. (Military contribution of Ukraine)
The doctor interviewed in the SBU video said that one soldier had a wound on his face and another soldier had an open wound and a broken lower leg. Both men were receiving treatment.
In this unverified photo shared by the Ukrainian military, a captured North Korean soldier with injuries lies on a bed inside a cell. (Military contribution of Ukraine)
The SBU also said that one of the soldiers was undocumented, while the other had a Russian military ID in the name of a man from Tuva, a Russian region bordering Mongolia.
The Ukrainian military said North Korean soldiers were wearing Russian military uniforms and carrying fake military IDs in their pockets, a plan Andrii Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence service, said could be attributed to Moscow and “its representatives at the UN would deny the facts.”
Despite Ukrainian, US and South Korean assertions that Pyongyang has sent 10,000 – 12,000 troops to fight alongside Russia in the Kursk border region, Moscow has never publicly acknowledged North Korean forces.
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While reports of their presence first emerged in October, the Ukrainian military only confirmed ground engagement in December.
On Thursday, Zelenskyy put the number of North Koreans killed or wounded at 4,000, although US estimates are lower, at around 1,200.
Soldiers are seen at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Oct. 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin, File)
Despite North Korea’s painful losses and initial inexperience on the battlefield, Ukrainian soldiers, military intelligence and experts suggest that first-hand experience will help them improve as a fighting force.
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“For the first time in decades, the North Korean army is getting real military experience,” Yusov said. “This is a global challenge – not only for Ukraine and Europe, but for the whole world.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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