Tiếng Việt
Confirmation from South Korean Intelligence
South Korea’s intelligence agency has confirmed that Ukrainian forces detained two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk area. This information was reported by Yonhap News after Ukraine officially announced the capture.
On the morning of January 12, South Korean intelligence confirmed that the two captured North Korean soldiers revealed “significant losses” among North Korean troops in Russia.
The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) stated that it will continue to share information regarding North Korean prisoners of war in close coordination with Ukraine’s intelligence agency. The NSDC also confirmed that the two injured soldiers are currently not in critical condition.
Losses of North Korean Soldiers in the Russia-Ukraine War
According to South Korean officials, North Korea has deployed approximately 11,000 troops to support Russia in the war in Ukraine.
As of last month, South Korean intelligence reported that at least 100 North Korean soldiers had been killed and around 1,000 injured. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently stated that Russia lost up to an entire battalion of North Korean soldiers in just two days of fighting in Kursk, with a total of 3,800 North Korean troops killed or wounded since the beginning of the conflict.
In late December 2024, the Pentagon assessed that the attacks by North Korean soldiers in Kursk had not yielded significant results, due to the heavy losses they sustained.
Capture of North Korean Soldiers
On January 11, Ukraine announced the capture of two North Korean soldiers in Kursk, one of whom was detained on January 9. President Zelenskyy described this as a “special mission,” noting that Russia had attempted to conceal the involvement of North Korean troops in the war.
According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), one of the captured soldiers was born in 2005 and joined the North Korean military in 2021. The other, born in 1999, has been serving since 2016 and was a reconnaissance sniper.
One of the two soldiers carried Russian military documents under a false name, while the other had no identification papers at all. Neither of them speaks Ukrainian, English, or Russian. They are currently being held in Kyiv for investigation purposes.
Translated by: Lê Tuấn
Source: newsukraine.rbc.ua – North Korean soldier captured in Ukraine reports ‘significant’ losses – South Korean intel
See more: Russia-Ukraine conflict updates
