/wion/media/agency_attachments/2024/12/26/2024-12-26t112006978z-wion-white-logo-for-website-2-1.png){kind=logo}
/wion/media/agency_attachments/2024/12/13/2024-12-13t071548098z-wionlogo.webp)
/wion/media/member_avatars/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2024/09/26/456938-author-profilr.png)
/wion/media/media_files/2025/01/11/EIW68utLDRzE3yXlcwaX.png)
Ukraine has shared the first evidence of North Korean soldiers captured while fighting for Russia in the Kursk region, calling it a “undeniable” proof of North Korea’s involvement in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the country’s counterintelligence agency on Saturday announced that two injured North Korean soldiers had been taken into custody. The soldiers were transported to Kyiv for medical treatment and questioning.
Also read: 'Evidence of involvement': Zelensky says Ukraine captured two North Korean soldiers in Kursk region
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) released a video showing the two captives. According to the SBU, one of the soldiers was captured on January 9 by Ukrainian special forces, while the other was detained by paratroopers.
“They are being held in conditions that comply with international law,” said an SBU spokesman.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) assisting Ukrainian authorities in communicating with North Korean soldiers
The video shows the two men lying on bunk beds in a cell. One appears to have a jaw injury, while the other is reported to have a fractured leg.
The SBU said that the soldiers do not speak English, Ukrainian, or Russian. Thus, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) is assisting Ukrainian authorities in communicating with them.
One soldier, born in 1999, has been serving as a sniper-reconnaissance officer since 2016. Due to his jaw injury, he had to write down his testimony.
N Korean soldiers reveal they received only a week of training with Russian forces before deployment
The security service also said that one of the men was carrying a Russian military ID card under the name of another individual from Tuva, Russia. According to the soldier’s statement, he received the document in Russia in the autumn of 2024. The soldier claimed that some North Korean units had undergone only a week of training with Russian forces before deployment.
The other soldier was found without any identification documents. He told investigators he had served in the North Korean military and believed he was being sent to Russia for training, not combat.
The Ukrainian military has previously said that it recovered fake ID documents from North Korean soldiers killed in the Kursk region.
"This was not an easy task: Russian forces and other North Korean military personnel usually execute their wounded to erase any evidence of North Korea’s involvement in the war against Ukraine," Zelensky said in a post on X.
"I have instructed the Security Service of Ukraine to grant journalists access to these prisoners. The world needs to know the truth about what is happening," he added.
(With inputs from agencies)