North Korean soldier captured in Ukraine reports 'significant' losses – South Korean intel
Photo: prisoner of the Armed Forces of the DPRK (t.me/V_Zelenskiy_official)
South Korea's intelligence agency has confirmed that Ukrainian forces captured two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region. The Ukrainian side had officially announced their capture earlier, Yonhap News Agency reports.
On the morning of January 12, South Korea’s intelligence agency confirmed reports that Ukraine had captured two North Korean military personnel in the Kursk region. The confirmation followed an earlier announcement by Ukrainian officials.
South Korea’s intelligence agency also cited one of the captured North Korean soldiers, who revealed "significant" losses among North Korean troops in Russia.
"(We) will continue to share information related to the North Korean prisoners in close cooperation with Ukraine's intelligence authorities," stated Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC).
The NSDC further clarified that the injured North Korean soldiers are not in critical condition.
North Korean troop losses in Russia-Ukraine war
According to South Korean officials, Pyongyang has deployed approximately 11,000 military personnel to Russia to support the Kremlin in its war against Ukraine.
As of last month, South Korean intelligence reported that at least 100 North Korean soldiers had been killed, and around 1,000 were injured.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently stated in an interview that Russia lost up to a battalion of North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region over two days, with "3,800 killed or wounded" to date.
In late December 2024, the Pentagon noted that North Korean troops’ attacks in the Kursk region showed no significant effectiveness, citing their substantial losses.
Capture of North Korean soldiers
As previously reported, on January 11, it became known that Ukrainian forces had captured two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region. One of them was detained on January 9.
President Zelenskyy described the operation as "a task with an asterisk," given Russia’s extensive efforts to conceal the involvement of North Korean troops in combat against Ukrainian Defense Forces in the Kursk region.
Yesterday, Ukraine’s Security Service (SSU) revealed further details about the two North Korean soldiers captured in the Kursk region. The Ukrainian Special Operations Forces detained one, while paratroopers took the other prisoner.
One of the captured soldiers, born in 2005, has been serving in the North Korean military since 2021. The other, born in 1999, has been in the army since 2016, working as a reconnaissance sniper.
One of the detainees carried a Russian military ID issued under a false name, while the other had no identification documents. Neither soldier speaks Ukrainian, English, or Russian. The captured soldiers are currently in Kyiv, where investigative actions are underway.
