SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s intelligence agency told lawmakers Monday that two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting alongside Russian forces in the Russian border region of Kursk had not expressed a desire to seek asylum in South Korea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready to hand over the soldiers to North Korea if the country’s authoritarian leader, Kim Jong Un, arranges an exchange with Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia. Zelensky said one of the North Korean soldiers wanted to stay in Ukraine while the other wanted to return to his country, consistent with interview videos released by his government.
“If Kim Jong Un remembers his citizens and is able to arrange an exchange for our soldiers detained in Russia, we are ready to transfer these soldiers. There will undoubtedly be more prisoners of war from North Korea,” Zelenskyy said in a speech Sunday evening. He said in another post on social media platform X that “there might be other options” for North Korean prisoners who do not wish to return home.
LEARN MORE: North Korean troops suffer heavy losses on battlefield in Russia, Ukrainian intelligence says
During a closed-door briefing at South Korea’s National Assembly, the National Intelligence Service confirmed its participation in the interrogation of North Korean soldiers by Ukrainian authorities. The agency said the soldiers had not expressed a request to be resettled in South Korea, according to two lawmakers present at the meeting.
The agency said it was ready to discuss the matter with Ukrainian authorities if the soldiers ultimately requested to go to South Korea. About 34,000 North Koreans have defected to capitalist rival South Korea to avoid economic hardship and political repression at home, mostly since the late 1990s.
Koo Byoungsam, a spokesperson for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said facilitating asylum for North Korean soldiers would require “legal reviews, including international law, and consultations with the countries concerned.
“There’s nothing we can say at this point,” Koo said.
Seoul says around 300 North Korean troops killed in combat
Seoul’s intelligence agency estimates that around 300 North Korean troops have died and 2,700 others have been injured in battles against Ukrainian forces, in what represents North Korea’s first involvement in a large-scale conflict since the Korean War of 1950-1953.
The agency said the North Koreans are having difficulty adapting to drones and other elements of modern warfare. They are further disadvantaged by the crude tactics of their Russian commanders, who have launched them into assault campaigns without providing rear support, according to Lee Seong Kweun, a lawmaker who attended the agency briefing. .
The agency said memos found on dead North Korean soldiers indicated they had been ordered to commit suicide before being captured, according to Lee. The agency said a North Korean soldier, threatened with capture by Ukrainian forces, shouted “General Kim Jong Un” and tried to detonate a hand grenade before being shot dead.
Zelensky confirmed the capture of the North Korean soldiers on Saturday, days after Ukraine, facing a slow Russian attack in the east, began launching new attacks in Kursk to hold on to land captured in an incursion lightning strike in August – the first occupation of Russian territory in the world. Second War.
Moscow’s counterattack left Ukrainian forces stretched and demoralized, killing and wounding thousands and retaking more than 40 percent of the 984 square kilometers (380 square miles) of Kursk that Ukraine had seized.
North Koreans struggle to adapt to Kursk terrain and modern warfare
Moon Seong Mook, a retired South Korean brigadier general, said the high death toll among North Korean soldiers was predictable because they would not have been adequately prepared for an unusual mission in the Kursk region , which is very different from that of North Korea. mountainous landscape.
Another disadvantage for the North Koreans is that they do not conduct independent operations but are pushed into combat under Russian commanders, likely struggling with unfamiliar tactics and communication problems due to language barriers, said Moon, who has taken part in numerous military talks with the North. Korea. North Korean forces could set up special surveillance teams to stop or execute desertion attempts, he said.
“The current battlefield environment, combined with drones and other technologies, has created situations that North Korean soldiers have never encountered before,” Moon said. “They are also deployed in large numbers in wide open fields, where there is no place to hide, in continuous fighting to retake the area, and this is apparently where the casualties are coming from. »
North Korea’s decades-long financial woes, which have forced many soldiers to grow their own food or spend long hours deployed in construction and other work aimed at supporting the national economy, could also have an impact on the quality of training they receive at home, Moon said.
Still, some in Seoul fear that North Korea’s involvement in the Ukraine crisis poses a significant threat to South Korea, as North Korean forces could gain crucial combat experience and Russia could provide technology transfers likely to strengthen the North Korean nuclear army.
Associated Press writer Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
