Operation against Ukraine

Details from interrogation: North Koreans left alone

This man was apparently arrested during the fighting in Kursk.(Bild: Ukrainisches Präsidialamt)

The South Korean secret service has confirmed the capture of two North Korean soldiers by Ukraine. Seoul has also published initial details from the interrogation of the prisoners. The men were apparently not told for a long time why they were traveling to Russia.

The intelligence service NIS confirmed on Sunday that the Ukrainian military had captured the two North Koreans in the Russian region of Kursk on Thursday. One of the soldiers had revealed during interrogation by investigators that he had arrived in November and had received military training from Russian forces.

The captured soldier also admitted that the North Korean soldiers had "suffered significant losses" in Russia. The NIS also stated that the soldier had initially believed that he was only being sent to Russia for an exercise.

Only when he arrived in Russia did he realize that he had been sent on a combat mission. This had previously been reported by the Ukrainian domestic intelligence service SBU.

Men left to their own devices
The NIS also stated that one of the men captured by Ukraine had previously "received neither food nor water for four to five days". The South Korean secret service is continuing to work with the Ukrainian SBU to exchange information about North Korean soldiers deployed in the Ukraine war.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi had stated that SBU investigators were currently interrogating two wounded North Korean soldiers captured in the Kursk region. As neither spoke Russian or Ukrainian, they were being questioned "in cooperation" with the South Korean secret service with the help of Korean interpreters.

Thousands of North Koreans in action
Selenskyj published photos of two injured men with Asian facial features in online media, but no proof that they were North Koreans (see pictures above). The information from South Korea now supports Selenskyj's claims.

North Korea has sent thousands of soldiers to support the Russian army. According to the USA and South Korea, around 10,000 soldiers from North Korea are deployed in Russia, including in the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine. At the end of December, Ukrainian President Selensky reported for the first time that several North Korean soldiers who had been injured in battle had died after being captured.