South Korea’s spy agency confirmed on Friday that Ukrainian troops had captured a wounded North Korean soldier sent to support Russia’s war effort.
The soldier is believed to be the first North Korean prisoner of war captured since Pyongyang deployed troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine in December.
Prior to confirmation of the news, a photo purportedly of the injured soldier circulated on Telegram.
North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops to help Russia, according to Kiev and Seoul, but Moscow and Pyongyang have neither confirmed nor denied their presence.
“This is the first in a series of captures and killings,” Yang Xu, a researcher at the Asia Policy Institute, told the BBC. “For the Ukrainians, capturing these North Korean troops and trying to exchange them with the Russians for Ukrainian prisoners of war is even more favorable.”
The latest images from the Russia-Ukraine war confirm speculation that “North Korea will deploy a large number of troops under Russian command to attack,” Yang said.
However, he added that “proving their North Korean citizenship will be challenging.”
Ukraine’s army said North Korean soldiers were given fake Russian identity cards, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week released a video he said showed Russian troops burning the faces of slain North Koreans to hide them identity.
Ukrainian and South Korean intelligence services say many of the troops deployed to Russia are Pyongyang’s best troops and are from the 11th Army, also known as the “Storm Army.” The unit is trained in infiltration, infrastructure sabotage and assassination.
Zelensky said on Monday that more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or injured in fighting in Russia’s Kursk region.
He added that cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang heightened “risks of instability” around the Korean peninsula.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The development comes amid rising tensions between North and South Korea, sparking concern in the West. As a long-term ally of both sides, China also maintains a cautious attitude towards the friendship between the two countries.
Additional reporting by Jake Kwon
