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Ukraine captured two wounded North Korean soldiers fighting on behalf of Russia in the Russian border area, South Korean intelligence said, confirming a report from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday.
Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) he told AFP “it has been confirmed that the Ukrainian army captured two North Korean soldiers on January 9 on the Kursk battlefield in Russia”.
The confirmation comes after Zelenskyy said in a post on the Telegram messaging app that two captured North Korean soldiers had been wounded and taken to Kiev, where they are communicating with Ukraine’s SBU security service.
The SBU has released a video that appears to show two prisoners on beds inside prison cells. The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.
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In this unverified photo shared by the Ukrainian military, an allegedly captured North Korean soldier with injuries sits on a bed inside a cell. (Ukrainian military brochure)
The doctor interviewed in the SBU video said that one soldier suffered a facial wound, while the other soldier had an open wound and a fractured lower leg. Both men were given medical attention.
In this unverified photo shared by the Ukrainian military, an allegedly captured North Korean soldier with injuries lies in a bed inside a cell. (Ukrainian military brochure)
The SBU also said that one of the soldiers did not have any documents, while the other did Russian military card a card in the name of a man from Tuva, a Russian region bordering Mongolia.
Ukraine’s military says North Korean soldiers are dressed in Russian military uniforms and carry fake military IDs in their pockets, a scheme that Andrii Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, said could mean Moscow and “its representatives at the UN can deny the facts.”
Despite claims by Ukraine, the US and South Korea that Pyongyang has sent 10,000-12,000 troops to fight alongside Russia in the border region of Kursk, Moscow has never publicly acknowledged North Korean forces.
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While reports of their presence first surfaced in October, Ukrainian troops only confirmed engagement on the ground in December.
Zelenskyy on Thursday put the number of North Koreans killed or wounded at 4,000, although US estimates are lower, at around 1,200.
Soldiers are seen at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, on October 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin, File)
Despite North Korea’s losses and initial inexperience on the battlefield, Ukrainian soldiers, military intelligence and experts suggest that first-hand experience will only help them further develop as a fighting force.
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“For the first time in decades, the North Korean military is gaining real military experience,” Yusov said. “This is a global challenge – not only for Ukraine and Europe, but for the whole world.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
