Ukrainian forces have captured an injured North Korean soldier who was reportedly sent to assist Russia in its war, South Korea’s spy agency confirmed on Friday.
Eko Hot Blog reports that the soldier is believed to be the first North Korean prisoner of war since December, when Pyongyang began deploying troops to support Russia’s military efforts in Ukraine.
EDITOR’S PICKS
The confirmation follows the circulation of a photo on Telegram, purportedly showing the wounded soldier.
According to Kyiv and Seoul, North Korea has sent over 10,000 soldiers to aid Russia, although both Moscow and Pyongyang have neither confirmed nor denied their involvement.
“This is the first one in a string of captures and killings,” Yang Uk, a research fellow at the Asian Institute for Policy Studies, told the BBC. “For Ukrainians, it’s more beneficial to capture these North Korean troops and try to exchange them with Russians for Ukrainian prisoners of war.”
Recent images emerging from the Russia-Ukraine war confirmed speculations that “North Korean troops will be deployed in large numbers to the assault by Russian command,” Mr Yang said.
He also added, however, that “it will be challenging to prove their North Korean nationality”.
Ukrainian forces have reported that North Korean soldiers have been issued fake Russian identification cards. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed earlier this month that Russian soldiers were seen burning the faces of North Korean soldiers who died in battle, allegedly to conceal their identities.
Zelenskyy also revealed that over 3,000 North Korean troops have been killed or wounded while fighting in Russia’s Kursk region. He warned that the growing cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang increases the “risk of destabilisation” on the Korean peninsula.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, has been further complicated by the recent deployment of North Korean troops, signaling a strengthening alliance between the two isolated nations. This development, which coincides with escalating tensions between North Korea and South Korea, has raised concerns in the West. China, a key ally of both countries, is also closely monitoring the situation.
Your diet plays a crucial role in determining how well you sleep. EDITOR’S PICKS NNPC…
The Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Epe Local Government Chapter, marked a significant…
A Catholic priest in the Diocese of Nnewi, Anambra State, Reverend Father Tobias Okonkwo, was…