Two N. Korean troops captured by Ukraine

Two N. Korean troops captured by Ukraine. January. 13, 2025 08:30. by Eun-A Cho achim@donga.com.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday (local time) released images of two North Korean soldiers captured in the Kursk region, southwestern Russia, the first detailed announcement made by Ukraine about the capture of North Korean forces deployed to war on Russia’s side. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service also confirmed on Sunday in real-time cooperation with its Ukrainian counterpart that two North Korean soldiers were caught alive on the warfront of Kursk on Thursday, adding that their current medical status is stable.

President Zelenskyy said on Telegram on Saturday that the two North Korean soldiers, taken alive, were transmitted to Kyiv, currently under interrogation by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Confessing that it was not an easy job to capture them live, he argued that Russia and North Korea often execute troops, once injured, to conceal the fact that North Korean troops fight in war. He ordered the SBU to allow media access to the North Korean captives, he said, adding that the international community needs to know about the deployment of North Korean forces.

Pictures posted by President Zelenskyy show two North Korean captives receiving medical care in a detention center - with one lying down with bandaged hands and the other in military uniform sitting with his jaw bandaged due to a chin wound.

Ukrainian news agency RBC reported that these two North Korean captives were taken by the 84th Tactical Group of the SSO and Ukrainian paratroopers on Thursday. The one with a hand injury, born in 2005, joined the North Korean military as a rifleman in 2021. A Russian-style military ID card that he was carrying says that he is from the Republic of Tuva in southern Siberia, Russia. RBC said that during the interrogation, he clarified that he was told that he was traveling as part of a training program, not for war against Ukraine. With a wounded chin, the other had difficulty speaking and answering in writing. He was born in 1999 and joined the army in 2016 as a scout sniper.