Ukrainian forces captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk region, marking a first. Zelenskyy shared evidence, highlighting their survival and potential asylum or prisoner exchange.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that two had been captured alive for the first time by forces operating in the Kursk region of Russia and posted a video as evidence.

“In addition to the first captured soldiers from North Korea, there will undoubtedly be more. It’s only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others,” – Zelenskyy said on the social media platform X. 

“Our soldiers have captured North Korean military personnel in the Kursk region. Two soldiers, though wounded, survived and were transported to Kyiv, where they are now communicating with the Security Service of Ukraine,” he posted several images of the injured soldiers.

On the following day Ukranian President posted a video showing the two soldiers in bunk beds in a cell. One soldier suffered a facial wound while the other soldier had an open wound and a lower leg fracture. Both men were receiving medical treatment.

Zelenskyy said of the two Korean soldiers who had been captured: “This was not an easy task: Russian forces and other North Korean military personnel usually execute their wounded to erase any evidence of North Korea’s involvement in the war against Ukraine.”

He expressed willingness to hand over the soldiers to North Korea if the country’s authoritarian leader, Kim Jong Un, arranges for an exchange with Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia. Zelenskyy added that “there may be other options” for North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return home, and a video posted by him indicated that at least one of the captured soldiers expressed a desire to remain in Ukraine.

One of the men said through an interpreter that he did not know he was fighting against Ukraine as he had been that it was a training exercise and hid in a shelter during the offensive. He said that if he was ordered to return to North Korea, he would, but that he was ready to stay in Ukraine if given the chance.

The Ukrainian Security Service, the SBU, said that “communication with them is carried out through interpreters of Korean,” in cooperation with South Korean intelligence services.

Koo Byoungsam, spokesperson of South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, has said facilitating the asylum of the North Korean soldiers would require “legal reviews, including on international law, and consultations with related nations.”

“There’s nothing we can say at the current stage,” Koo said answering on the possibility of their transfer to South Korea.

According to international news agencies, Seoul’s spy agency believes that about 300 North Korean soldiers have died and another 2,700 have been injured while fighting against Ukrainian forces.

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