The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, declared this Sunday that kyiv is willing to deliver North Korean soldiers to their leader, Kim Jong Un, if he can organize their exchange for Ukrainians held captive in Russia.
“In addition to the first captured North Korean soldiers, there will undoubtedly be more. It is only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others» Zelensky said on social media platform X. Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukraine had captured two north korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region, the first time Ukraine has announced the capture of North Korean soldiers alive since its entry into the nearly three-year war last fall.
According to Ukrainian and Western assessments, About 11,000 soldiers from North Korea, an ally of Russia, have been deployed in the Kursk region to support Moscow’s forces. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied its presence.
Zelensky has said that Russian and North Korean forces had suffered heavy losses. “Ukraine is willing to hand over its soldiers to Kim Jong Un if he can organize their exchange for our captive warriors in Russia,” he declared. The Ukrainian president published a short video showing the interrogation of two men who present themselves as north korean soldiers. One of them is lying on a bed with his hands bandaged, the other is sitting with a bandage on his jaw.
One of the men said through an interpreter that I didn’t know I was fighting Ukraine and that he had been told that he was on a training exercise.
He said he hid in a shelter during the offensive and was found a couple of days later. He explained that if ordered to return to North Korea, he would do so, but stated that he was willing to stay in Ukraine if given the opportunity. Zelensky has said that for those North Korean soldiers who did not wish to return home, there may be other options available and “for those who Express your desire to bring peace by spreading the truth about this war in Korean (language) they will be given that opportunity.
2,700 injured and 300 dead
Some 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine and another 2,700 have been wounded, a South Korean lawmaker said Monday, citing information from Seoul’s spy agency.
“The deployment of North Korean troops to Russia has been expanded” and estimates suggest that the number of casualties “includes approximately 300 dead and 2,700 wounded,” MP Lee Seong-kweun told reporters after attending the presentation of a report by the South Korean intelligence agency.
Ukraine, the United States and South Korea have accused North Korea of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine. Relations between Moscow and Pyongyang, allies since the Cold War, grew closer with the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine. Last year they signed a mutual defense treaty that came into force in the last quarter.
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