Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky published a video on social media on Sunday of two men Ukraine claims are North Korean soldiers captured on the front lines of the Russian invasion, allegedly fighting without having been told they were going to war.
Zelensky said in an accompanying message that he was open to negotiation to free the soldiers to communist dictator Kim Jong-un if Kim helps Ukraine retrieve some of its captured citizens from Russia. He also indicated that he was open to giving political asylum to North Korean soldiers if they “do not wish to return home” and are willing to speak about their experiences, presumably critically of the country they escaped.
North Korea has risen to be one of Russia’s most vocal geopolitical allies since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. Kim and his officials have enthusiastically supported the Ukraine invasion as necessary to limit the influence of the free world, most prominently America, on the international stage. For his loyalty, Kim received a visit to Pyongyang by Russian strongman Vladimir Putin in June 2024 – the first Putin visit to North Korea in two decades – that culminated with the two countries signing a mutual defense agreement.
Zelensky, along with officials in South Korean and American intelligence, began reporting North Korea moving troops west into the Ukrainian war theater in the fall. North Korea has not at press time confirmed that it is participating in the invasion, much less if its soldiers’ presence on the Russian-Ukrainian border is related to the mutual defense treaty.
On Saturday, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) announced that it had captured two North Korean soldiers in Kursk, the Russian region Ukraine counter-invaded in August. It relayed that South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) had aided in translating for its operatives, allowing them to conduct an interview with the prisoners of war. NIS independently confirmed the new of the capture and promised it would “continue to share information related to the North Korean prisoners in close cooperation with Ukraine’s intelligence authorities.”
The men in the video Zelensky published on social media on Sunday, and their answers when questioned, appeared to align with the description of the interview with the prisoners the SBU described the day before.
One of the men, when asked, said he did not know where he was – or that he was fighting in a war against Ukraine. The man claimed that his superiors told him that he was engaging in military “training” not actual hostilities and said he did not want to return to North Korea following his captivity. The second man did answer in the affirmative when asked if he wanted to return to North Korea.
In its original statement on the capture of the soldiers, the SBU said that one of the prisoners “emphasizes that he was allegedly going for training, not to fight a war against Ukraine.”
“Immediately after being captured, the foreigners were provided with all the necessary medical care,” the SBU said. “They are being held in appropriate conditions that meet the requirements of international law.”
Zelensky, in his own message accompanying the videos, warned the communist regime in Pyongyang that “there will undoubtedly be more” North Korean prisoners of war captured in Ukraine if Kim persists on sending troops to aid Russia. He also suggested that he would be willing to discuss their release with Kim.
“Ukraine is ready to hand over Kim Jong Un’s soldiers to him if he can organize their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia,” Zelensky wrote. Notably, Kyiv marks on Sunday a holiday known as the “Day of the Ukrainian Political Prisoner.”
He also added a word of hope for North Korean troops fighting on Russia’s behalf.
“For those North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return, there may be other options available,” he wrote. “In particular, those who express a desire to bring peace closer by spreading the truth about this war in Korean will be given that opportunity.”
The two alleged soldiers are the first two North Koreans that Ukraine has claimed to capture alive. In late December, the South Korean NIS revealed that Ukraine had captured an injured North Korean soldier, but he had died soon after of wounds sustained in battle.
The North Korean government has not issued a response to the offer to discuss a prisoner trade at press time.
Zelensky has been warning that North Korea poses a military threat to Europe since October – and impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol for much longer. Yoon addressed a NATO Asia-Pacific partner meeting in July 2023 and urged NATO to treat North Korea as a threat to Europe, not just an Asian problem.
“North Korea’s nuclear missiles are a real threat that can hit not only Vilnius but also Paris, Berlin and London,” Yoon warned at the time. “In today’s ultraconnected era, we cannot separate the security of Europe from that of Asia.”
In October, Zelensky announced that his government had reason to believe that North Korea had begun preparing 10,000 troops to fight alongside the Rusians against Ukraine. By early November, Kyiv reported that it had opened fire on the first contingent of North Korean troops. It remains unclear at press time how many North Koreans are on the front lines against Ukraine, given that Pyongyang has not confirmed its activities there. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) estimated in a report on January 11 that about 12,000 North Korean troops had been deployed to the Ukraine war front.
ISW, reporting on the capture of the alleged North Korean soldiers by Ukraine this weekend, noted that the North Korean contingent is reportedly attempting to overwhelm Ukrainian forces with large numbers of troops.
“North Korean forces are reportedly deploying large assault groups to combat operations despite frequent Ukrainian drone strikes,” ISW noted, “which is likely contributing to North Korea’s high casualty rates and will likely affect the lessons that the North Korean military command will learn from fighting in the war.”
“North Korean soldiers are also reportedly ignoring Ukrainian drones and continuing to move forward despite drone strikes on personnel,” it added.
A report by the British newspaper the Guardian, citing an anonymous American intelligence official, claimed in mid-December that North Korea had already endured “several hundred casualties” fighting Ukraine at the time.
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