Ukraine captured a North Korean soldier in Russia, Seoul reports

“This is the first in a series of captures and killings,” Yang Uk, a researcher at the Asian Institute for Policy Studies, told the BBC. “It is more beneficial for the Ukrainians to capture these North Korean troops and try to exchange them for Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war.”

Recent images emerging from the Russia-Ukraine war confirm speculation that “North Korean troops will be deployed in large numbers on the offensive by the Russian command,” Mr. Yang said.

He also added that “it will be difficult to prove their North Korean citizenship.”

Ukrainian forces say North Korean soldiers have been given fake Russian IDs, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy claimed earlier this month that Russian soldiers had been seen burning the faces of North Koreans who had died in battle – ostensibly to hide their identities.

Zelensky said on Monday that more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers were killed or wounded during the fighting in Russia’s Kursk region.

He added that cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang increases the “risk of destabilization” around the Korean Peninsula.

Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The recent deployment of North Korean troops to Russia is a sign of the 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. There is also China, a longtime ally of both sides to be careful about friendship.