North Korean captives unveil Russian training, isolation
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, reported that prisoners from North Korea confirmed their transfer to Russia and complete cut-off from external information.
North Korean prisoners of war, interrogated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), confirmed their transfer to Russian territory and complete isolation from external information. - There is ongoing communication between the captured North Korean soldiers and SBU investigators. The prisoners' statements corroborate intelligence reports regarding their relocation to Russian territory, training by Russians, and their complete isolation - Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
North Korean soldiers in Russia
In the video attached to the Ukrainian president's post, a North Korean prisoner testified that several soldiers from his country were trained to handle Russian weaponry. According to his account, he arrived in Russia by ship with about a hundred compatriots and was then transported by train to combat areas. "I remember it was probably a Russian ferry, but not military—used only for the transport of goods. (...) There were about 100 people on board," the North Korean recounted.
The prisoner reported that he joined the army at the age of 17. "All men, after finishing school, typically go into the military. I joined the army, into military intelligence, after graduating and served there the entire time," he said. He explained he was unaware he would participate in Russia's war with Ukraine and later did not know whom he would be fighting against. Asked about the North Korean army's losses, the prisoner replied, "there were many casualties in combat."
When asked by the SBU about his knowledge of the world outside North Korea, the captured soldier replied: "Not much." "I only know South Korea has fewer mountains than North Korea," he admitted. On January 11, Zelensky announced that the Ukrainian army had captured two soldiers from North Korea fighting in the Kursk region, partially occupied by Ukrainian troops in Russia.
According to authorities in Seoul, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un sent over 10,000 soldiers as "cannon fodder" to help Moscow in its fight against Kyiv, in exchange for Russian technological assistance with Pyongyang's weaponry and satellite programs, which are under strict international sanctions. Earlier, on January 6, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed during a visit to Seoul that at least one thousand North Korean soldiers participating in the war against Ukraine on Russia's side had been killed or wounded.
