South Korea’s intelligence service on Sunday backed Ukraine’s claim that it had captured two wounded North Korean soldiers in Russia after kyiv said they were being interrogated.
Ukraine, the United States and South Korea have accused nuclear-armed North Korea of sending more than 10,000 troops to help bolster Russian forces.
Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said AFP It has “confirmed that the Ukrainian army captured two North Korean soldiers on January 9 at the Kursk battlefield in Russia.”
On Saturday, Ukrainian intelligence (SBU) released a video showing the two men on hospital bunks, one with his hands bandaged and the other with his jaw bandaged.
A doctor at the detention center said the first man also had a broken leg. The SBU said the men had told interrogators they were experienced army soldiers, and one said he was sent to Russia to train, not fight.
But Kyiv did not present direct evidence that the captured men were North Koreans and AFP was unable to independently verify their nationalities. South Korea’s confirmation added weight to Kyiv’s account.
The NIS similarly said that one of the captured soldiers revealed during his interrogation that he received military training from Russian forces after arriving there in November. “At first he believed he was being sent for training, but upon arriving in Russia he realized he had been sent,” the NIS said.
The soldier said North Korean forces had experienced “significant losses during the battle.” According to Seoul’s intelligence agency, one of the men “went without food or water for four or five days before he was captured.”
The NIS said it would continue to work with the SBU to share information on North Korean fighters in Ukraine.
Neither Russia nor North Korea have reacted to the intelligence reports.
Closer cooperation
Russia and North Korea have strengthened their military ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, although neither has confirmed that Pyongyang’s forces are fighting for Moscow.
On a visit to Seoul this month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington believed Russia was expanding space cooperation with North Korea in exchange for its troop contribution in the fight against Ukraine.
“The DPRK is already receiving Russian military equipment and training. “We now have reason to believe that Moscow intends to share advanced space and satellite technology with Pyongyang,” Blinken said at a news conference in Seoul, using North Korea’s official name.
Repeating a claim recently made by US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Blinken said the US also believed Russia “could be close” to formally accepting North Korea’s status as a nuclear power.
The claim came as North Korea tested a new hypersonic missile while Blinken visited the US ally.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last month that nearly 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been “killed or wounded” fighting for Russia, while Seoul put the figure at 1,000.
Last month, the NIS told the country’s lawmakers that “several North Korean casualties” had already been attributed to Ukrainian missile and drone attacks, as well as training accidents, with the highest ranking being “at least at the level of a general.” “.
Due to losses among its forces, North Korea is preparing for an additional deployment to Ukraine, according to Seoul’s military.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said last month that Pyongyang is reportedly “preparing for the rotation or additional deployment of soldiers” to assist Russia’s war effort.
Pyongyang and Moscow have deepened political, military and cultural ties since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In a New Year’s letter, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin and made a possible reference to the war in Ukraine. He said 2025 would be the year “when the Russian army and people defeat neo-Nazism and achieve a great victory.”
