Ukrainian forces have captured a wounded North Korean soldier who was despatched to help Russia’s conflict, South Korea’s spy company confirmed Friday.
The soldier is believed to be the primary North Korean prisoner of conflict captured since December, when Pyongyang deployed forces to help Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
The affirmation comes after a photograph purporting to point out the wounded soldier circulated on Telegram.
North Korea has despatched greater than 10,000 troops to assist Russia, in response to Kiev and Seoul, though Moscow and Pyongyang have neither confirmed nor denied their presence.
“This is the primary of a sequence of captures and killings,” Yang Uk, a researcher on the Asian Institute for Policy Studies, advised the BBC. “It is extra advantageous for the Ukrainians to seize these North Korean troops and attempt to alternate them with the Russians for Ukrainian prisoners of conflict.”
Recent photographs rising from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine confirmed hypothesis that “North Korean troops might be deployed in giant numbers for the assault by the Russian command,” Yang mentioned.
He additionally added, nonetheless, that “it is going to be troublesome to show their North Korean nationality.”
Ukrainian forces say North Korean troopers have been issued pretend Russian id paperwork, whereas Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky launched footage final week that he mentioned confirmed Russian troops burning the faces of slain North Koreans to cover their id.
Over 3,000 North Korean troopers have died or been wounded throughout preventing in Russia’s Kursk area, Zelensky mentioned on Monday.
He added that collaboration between Moscow and Pyongyang will increase the “threat of destabilization” on the Korean Peninsula.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The current deployment of North Korean troops to Russia is an indication of a rising alliance between the 2 pariah states.
The growth, which comes as North Korea will increase tensions with South Korea, has sparked considerations within the West. So is China, a long-time ally of each side keeping an eye on friendship.
Additional reporting by Jake Kwon
