One young soldier from North Korea said he had no idea where he was fighting when he was sent from his isolated homeland to the front lines of the war between Russia and Ukraine. When asked if his parents knew where he was, another North Korean soldier shook his head.
A three-minute video clip posted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on social media platform X on Sunday showed Ukrainian officials interrogating two North Korean prisoners with the help of a South Korean interpreter. . Ukrainian authorities announced their capture on Saturday, saying they were the first North Korean soldiers to be captured alive. Zelenskiy then offered to trade him for Ukrainian prisoners held by Russia.
The soldiers' answers were revealed in footage provided and edited by Ukraine, which controlled the production and release of the video. The footage was a small but rare glimpse into the mindset and preparations of the estimated 11,000 North Korean troops sent to support Russia's war against Ukraine.
They seemed to confirm what South Korean and U.S. officials have said in recent weeks. The theory is that the North Korean military has suffered heavy casualties in foreign wars fought in unknown territory while the government has kept its dispatches a secret from the people.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service told lawmakers in Seoul on Monday that it estimates 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 2,700 others injured in the fighting with Ukraine. The White House racked up more casualties.
South Korean lawmakers briefed reporters after a closed-door meeting with the spy agency said notes from dead North Korean soldiers showed that the North Korean government preferred to take his own life rather than be captured on the battlefield by highly indoctrinated soldiers. He reiterated Mr. Zelensky's assertion that it was shown that he had been encouraging people to do so. A North Korean soldier was shot and killed by Ukrainian troops as he attempted to blow himself up with a grenade while shouting the name of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korea has not responded to reports that its troops have been captured or killed by Ukrainian forces. North Korea has never publicly disclosed the deployment or mass shipment of artillery shells and other weapons sent to Russia in support of its war against Ukraine, the country's first overseas shipment in decades. intervention in a large-scale armed conflict.
In the video Zelenskiy released, the voices of the officials interrogating the North Koreans were distorted, presumably to prevent identification, and the captured soldiers remained visibly injured. Ukraine said the soldiers were treated and taken to the Ukrainian capital Kiev for questioning. But Ukraine also appeared to be using the prisoners to send a message to the West by posting video clips online.
Ukrainian leaders used North Korean military involvement on Russia's behalf as a way to further galvanize support from allies. South Korea also cites the growing military alliance between North Korea and Russia as a source of international concern.
Experts said prisoners' comments should be evaluated in light of the power imbalance between prisoners and captives, and that prisoners may not be speaking freely and may be concerned about their own safety or I am aware that my motivation may be motivated by a desire for better treatment.
According to the rules governing the treatment of prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions, governments are supposed to protect prisoners of war from becoming “objects of public curiosity,” but this concept does not allow prisoners of war to appear in any public place. It may also be interpreted as not being released.
Lying in bed with white bandages wrapped around his hands, one of the two North Korean prisoners of war nods and shakes his head, saying he didn't know he was fighting against Ukraine when he was captured. Well, he was in Ukraine now.
When he was sent to the front lines on January 3, he said he was only told that the North Korean military would “train as if they were in a live battle.”
“I saw a colleague die next to me,” he said. “I was hiding in the dugout when I got injured.”
Asked if he wanted to go home, the soldier asked if Ukrainians were good people. When the interpreter answered, “Yes,” he said in a weak but pleading voice: “I want to live here.”
The other North Korean soldier had a bandage on his injured jaw and did not speak. When asked if he had parents in North Korea, he nodded. But when I asked him if he knew where he was, he shook his head.
“The video clip of the two soldiers shows that Kim Jong-un has not found a way to justify his country's participation in the Russia-Ukraine war to the public,” said North Korea expert Kang Dong-wan. said. At Dong-A University in South Korea. “It also showed that the North Korean military is being wasted as cannon fodder.”
The two soldiers belonged to the Reconnaissance General Bureau, the North Korean military's intelligence division, South Korean lawmakers told reporters at a press conference. Lawmakers said that when soldiers were sent to war, the government promised to treat them as “heroes.”
The soldiers were captured in the Kursk region of western Russia. There, North Korean troops were fighting to help retake Russian territory lost to Ukraine in a surprise cross-border invasion last summer.
South Korean intelligence agencies, citing battlefield footage they analyzed, told lawmakers that North Korean troops were making futile attempts to destroy drones flying in the distance. They were also reportedly making reckless charges on the enemy without proper artillery support from the rear.
Mr. Kim is believed to have acquired billions of dollars worth of oil, food and weapons technology in exchange for supplies of troops and weapons to Russia, according to South Korean analysts and officials. But because the military was deployed so quickly, North Korean soldiers were said to be inadequately prepared for modern warfare, especially drone attacks.
Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Ukraine was “ready to hand over Kim Jong Un's soldiers if we can arrange an exchange with our fighters who are being held captive in Russia.”
“North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return may have other options, especially those who express a desire to bring peace closer by spreading the truth about this war in the Korean language. It will be given,” he added.
By exposing the face of a North Korean soldier and his desire to remain in Ukraine, Professor Kang hopes that if the soldier is sent back to North Korea, his statements will be seen as an act of betrayal. Ukrainian authorities said his safety was at risk.
South Korean lawmakers cited intelligence agencies as saying the South Korean government is ready to negotiate with Kiev if North Korean prisoners of war wish to seek asylum in South Korea.
