North Korean prisoners of war (POWs) captured in the Kursk Oblast believed they were fighting against South Korean soldiers. One of them wants to be transferred to South Korea in the future.
They said this in an interview with the South Korean newspaper Chosun.
The captured Koreans are 26-year-old Ri and 21-year-old Baek. Before they got to the Kursk Oblast, they served in the North Korean army.
According to them, they were constantly followed by North Korean agents in russia. They spread rumors that South Korean troops were attacking them from Ukraine.
One of the POWs, whom the journalist spoke with, said that he was originally from Pyongyang and was the only child in his family.
However, he had not communicated with them before leaving for russia. The POW is now worried that his sick parents will now be forced to leave Pyongyang if the North Korean government finds out that their son has been captured.
"In our army, being captured is perceived as treason," he said, adding that he would have committed suicide if he had had a grenade with him.
Now the man claims that he plans to apply for asylum in South Korea.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on Saturday, January 11, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Defense Forces had captured two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk Oblast. According to him, this task was not easy: usually the russians and other North Korean soldiers finish off their wounded and do everything possible to ensure that no evidence of the participation of another state - North Korea - in the war against Ukraine is preserved.
Who we are: About us, Contacts. How we write news and our principles: Editorial code. We did our best. If you found this valuable – please support us.
To request a correction, please send an email.