South Korean Intelligence Agency confirmed on Friday that Ukrainian forces have detained an injured North Korean soldier who was sent to support Russia’s war in Ukraine. The soldier is believed to be the first North Korean prisoner of war since December when Pyongyang(North Korea) began deploying forces to provide aid to Russia in the conflict with Ukraine. This confirmation follows the spreading of a photo on Telegram, allegedly showing the wounded soldier.
Reports from Kyiv and Seoul claimed that North Korea has sent over 10,000 soldiers to fight along with the Russian army, though both Moscow and Pyongyang have neither acknowledged nor rejected their engagement. Ukrainian forces accused these soldiers were issuing fake Russian IDs, and President Zelensky recently shared footage indicating that Russian troops were burning the faces of fallen North Korean soldiers to hide their identities.
Intelligence from Ukraine and South Korea suggests that many of the North Korean soldiers sent to Russia come from Pyongyang’s elite 11th Corps, also known as the Storm Corps, which specializes in infiltration, sabotage, and assassinations. Zelensky stated on Monday that more than 3,000 North Korean troops have been killed or wounded while fighting in Russia’s Kursk region.
Zelensky also warned that the partnership between Russia and North Korea increases the “risk of destabilization” in the Korean Peninsula.
