Ukrainian special forces captured a North Korean soldier, a member of one of the units deployed to support the Russian armed forces, South Korea’s intelligence agency announced today.
This is the first known case of a North Korean soldier being captured since Kyiv and Western governments reported the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to Russian territory to support Moscow.
“In the framework of real-time intelligence sharing with an allied nation’s intelligence agency, it was confirmed that a North Korean soldier was injured and captured,” stated South Korea’s National Intelligence Service in a release, without providing further details about the circumstances.
The statement was issued in response to social media posts by Ukrainians claiming the capture of the soldier, accompanied by photos of an Asian man identified as North Korean.
According to Kyiv, 12,000 North Korean soldiers, including “around 500 officers and three generals,” have been deployed to the Russian region of Kursk, part of which was seized by Ukrainian forces in August and remains partially under their control.
Neither Russia nor North Korea has ever confirmed the presence of North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces.
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asserted that nearly 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been “killed or injured” since they started participating in battles alongside Russian armed forces. On the same day, Seoul reported “1,100 North Korean dead or injured.”
South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) confirmed that Ukraine captured a wounded North Korean Soldier, marking the first known instance of a North Korean Combatant being seized. The Soldier was reportedly captured by Ukrainian Forces in Russia's Kursk Region, as… pic.twitter.com/bzqcjMUfov
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) December 27, 2024
South Korea’s military general staff announced it has observed preparations suggesting that North Korea is gearing up to send additional military units to Russia, either to reinforce or relieve those already engaged in combat, as well as drones and other weapons.
The involvement of North Korean troops in the fighting “has not had a significant impact on the situation,” said Yevhen Yerin, spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (GUR), on Tuesday.
According to him, North Korean troops have no experience in modern battlefields, especially in countering or avoiding the omnipresent drones, and rely on “primitive tactics” reminiscent of “World War II and the post-World War II era.”
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