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Ukrainian forces have captured a wounded North Korean soldier sent to support Russia’s war effort, South Korea’s spy agency confirmed on Friday.
The soldier is believed to be the first North Korean prisoner of war captured since December, when Pyongyang deployed forces to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The confirmation comes after a photo purportedly showing the wounded soldier was circulated on Telegram.
North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops to help Russia, according to Kiev and Seoul – although Moscow and Pyongyang have neither confirmed nor denied their presence.
“This is the first in a series of captures and killings,” Yang Wook, a research fellow at the Asian Institute for Policy Studies, told the BBC. “It is more profitable for the Ukrainians to capture these North Korean soldiers and try to exchange them with the Russians for Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Recent images emerging from the Russo-Ukraine war have confirmed speculation that “North Korean troops will be deployed in large numbers for the attack by the Russian command,” Mr. Yang said.
However, he also added that “it will be a challenge for them to prove their North Korean nationality.”
Ukrainian forces say North Korean soldiers have been issued with fake Russian identity documents, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this month that Russian soldiers were seen burning the faces of North Koreans who died in battle – allegedly to conceal identities you are
More than 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded while fighting in Russia’s Kursk region, Zelensky said on Monday.
He added that cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang raises the “risk of destabilization” around the Korean Peninsula.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The recent deployment of North Korean troops to Russia is a sign of a growing alliance between the two pariah states.
The development, which comes as North Korea escalates tensions with South Korea, has raised concerns in the West. China, a longtime ally of both countries, is as well keeping a close eye on the friendship.
