A CAPTURED North Korean soldier has responded he wants to stay in Ukraine when asked if he wishes to go back home after 300 of his comrades were killed in battle.
Footage released by President Zelensky shows two of Kim’s men who were captured in the Kursk region, being interrogated.
The North Korean said he thought he was sent for training
He said he would like to stay in Ukraine if allowed to do so
Another soldier nodded when he was asked if he wanted to return home
East2WestThe men are held in Kyiv where they receive medical care[/caption]
The two soldiers are asked a series of questions including if they were aware of where were they sent to and how long they had been on the frontline.
One of them was found with no papers while the other one had a Russian military ID card under the name of another person.
During questioning one of the soldiers asks if Ukrainians were all good people, to which an interpreter replied, Ukraine is a good place to live.
Speaking through an interpreter, the soldier lying on a bed says in Korean: “I want to live here.”
The Ukrainian President revealed over the weekend the two North Korean soldiers had been taken alive.
One was captured on January 9 by Tactical Group 84 of Special Ops and the other by Ukrainian paratroopers, the Ukrainian secret service said.
Zelensky shared a video of the injured combatants being interrogated and raised the possibility of a prisoner swap for captured Ukrainian troops.
In the three-minute clip, the soldier also said he was unaware he was being deployed to Ukraine to fight Putin’s war.
The soldier was under the impression he was sent for training.
He said that he had been on the front line since January 3 and that he had hidden in a dugout.
He said he would go back home if he was required to but nodded when asked if he would stay in Ukraine if he was told to do so.
The second captive, struggling to speak clearly as he has bandages over his jaw following an injury, nodded when asked if he wished to go back to North Korea.
In his post on X, Zelensky said Ukraine is prepared to hand over captured North Korean soldiers in exchange for Ukrainian captives in Russia.
He wrote: “For those North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return, there may be other options available.
“Those who want “to bring peace closer by spreading the truth about this war in Korea will be given that opportunity.”
Zelensky’s comments come as Ukraine has been air-dropping leaflets onto North Korean soldiers urging them to surrender rather than fight Putin’s war.
The leaflets – dropped from drones onto North Korean positions – read: “Don’t die senselessly! Surrender is the way to survive.”
Around 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 2,700 wounded while fighting in Russia‘s war against Ukraine a South Korean lawmaker has revealed citing information from Seoul’s spy agency.
“The deployment of North Korean troops to Russia has reportedly expanded to include the Kursk region, with estimates suggesting that casualties among North Korean forces have surpassed 3,000,” lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun said after a briefing from Seoul’s spy agency.
This includes “approximately 300 deaths and 2,700 injuries,” Lee said, after a briefing from Seoul’s National Intelligence Service.
The soldiers, reportedly from North Korea‘s elite Storm Corps, have been ordered to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner, Lee said.
“Notably, memos found on deceased soldiers indicate that the North Korean authorities pressured them to commit suicide or self-detonate before capture,” he said.
He added that some of the soldiers had been granted “amnesty” or wanted to join North Korea‘s ruling Workers’ Party, hoping to improve their lot by fighting.
One North Korean soldier who was about to be captured shouted “General Kim Jong Un” and attempted to detonate a grenade, Lee said, adding that he was shot and killed.
The NIS analysis also revealed that the North Korean soldiers have “a lack of understanding of modern warfare,” and are being used by Russia in a manner leading to “the high number of casualties,” the lawmaker said.
East2WestOne of the soldiers was found with a Russian ID card[/caption]
East2WestThe false document claimed that the man was from a remote region of Siberia[/caption]
The two men are being questioned by Ukraine
I was a North Korean soldier – troops will be used as ‘human shields’
by James Halpin
A FORMER North Korean soldier said the troops in Russia will be looking to escape the battle in Ukraine “from the beginning”.
Speaking to The Sun before North Korean troops were deployed in Ukraine, Hyun-Seung Lee, a soldier in the Kim army in the early 2000s, said the soldiers in North Korea will be forced to go the war.
He said they will be young, so they won’t be that committed to the fighting.
He said: “It will be individuals at first, but more like as time passes, I think there’ll be like a larger number of group defections, including officers.”
That’s because, Lee says, the Russians will likely treat them as “expendable” and even more poorly than their own troops.
He said: “Russian soldiers don’t respect them as their fellow warriors
“They will treat them as their human shields.”
Eventually, the North Koreans will realise the hierarchy and how they are being seen as “disposable” by the Russians and look to flee, Lee said.
He added: “I think they’ll die without any impact.
“Putin and Kim Jong-un would expect more from them… they won’t get the expected results.”
“So, [troops will be told] ‘don’t pick up any material from Ukraine government or in the South Korean language’ and ‘they [claims in the propaganda they hear] are all fake’, and ‘it’s not true’ if someone defects, or ‘if you’re arrested, you’ll be tortured’.”
But Lee believes the soldiers will be susceptible to any psy-ops the Ukrainian government uses to try and get troops to defect.
He added: “I would say, if Ukraine’s government conducts a psychological strategy against North Korean soldiers then the chances are really high [of defection] because they don’t have real motivation. It’s not for money, right? They are not getting paid.
“And obviously it’s [their motivation] not defending your country, and then your parents, and yourself. So it’s just that they are mobilised by the North Korean supreme commander Kim Jong-un.”
