SEOUL: South Korea’s National Intelligence Service on Sunday (Jan 12) backed up Ukraine’s account of having captured two wounded North Korean soldiers this week in Russia, after Kyiv said they were being questioned.
Ukraine, the United States and South Korea have accused nuclear-armed North Korea of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help bolster Russian forces.
Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a statement it has “confirmed that the Ukrainian military captured two North Korean soldiers on Jan 9 in the Kursk battlefield in Russia”.
On Saturday, Ukrainian intelligence (SBU) released a video showing the two men in hospital bunks, one with bandaged hands and the other with a bandaged jaw.
A doctor at the detention centre said the first man also had a broken leg.
The SBU said the men had told interrogators they were experienced army soldiers, and one said he was sent to Russia for training, not fighting.
But Kyiv did not present direct evidence that the captured men were North Korean and AFP was unable to independently verify their nationalities.
South Korea’s confirmation added weight to Kyiv’s account.
The NIS similarly said one of the captured soldiers revealed during his interrogation that he received military training from Russian forces after arriving there in November.
“He initially believed he was being sent for training, realising upon arrival in Russia that he had been deployed,” the NIS said.
The soldier said North Korean forces had experienced “significant losses during battle”.
According to Seoul’s intelligence agency, one of the men “went without food or water for 4 to 5 days before being captured”. The NIS said it would continue to work with the SBU to share information on North Korean fighters in Ukraine.
Neither Russia nor North Korea has reacted to the intelligence accounts.
