The Future of North Korean POWs in Ukraine

Kyiv – Ukraine, the United States, and South Korea have accused North Korea of providing over 10,000 troops to fight against Ukraine. The North Korean forces are reportedly fighting in the Kursk region, wearing Russian uniforms and using Russian weapons, according to the German news agency, dpa.

Ukraine announced that it captured two North Korean soldiers over the past weekend. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy estimates there will be more North Korean prisoners of war (POWs).

“It is only a matter of time before our forces capture more,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
“The world must have no doubt that Russian soldiers rely on military aid from North Korea.”

Kyiv is ready to hand over these POWs to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un if he arranges for the release of Ukrainian POWs held by Russia.

As of now, neither North Korea nor Russia has confirmed that Pyongyang’s forces are fighting against Ukraine.

Options for North Korean POWs
However, the captured North Korean soldiers have other options if they do not wish to return to their authoritarian homeland.

“These two men, and other North Koreans captured, have three options,” said Chun In-bum, a retired lieutenant general in the Republic of Korea Army and now a senior researcher at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies in the U.S.
“They can request repatriation to North Korea, stay in Ukraine, or request to go to a third country,” he said.

Zelenskyy released a video purportedly showing the POWs being interrogated. One soldier, speaking through a translator to a Ukrainian official, reportedly said he was unaware he would be fighting in Ukraine and that his commander told him it was just an exercise, AFP reported.
In a translated statement quoted by AFP, one man said he wanted to return to North Korea. The other said he would follow orders but, if given the chance, would prefer to stay in Ukraine.

Discussions are currently underway with South Korean diplomats to outline the possible consequences of their return to North Korea.
“They would be executed immediately,” Chun told DW.
“For the North Korean regime, secrecy is paramount. The fact that these individuals surrendered instead of committing suicide, as outlined in documents seized by Ukraine, means they failed to follow orders,” he said.

North Korean troop casualties rise
South Korea’s intelligence agency, working with the Ukrainian government, estimates that at least 300 North Korean troops deployed to the conflict have been killed, and 2,700 others injured.
Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor specializing in North Korean leadership at Waseda University in Tokyo, also believes that Pyongyang would not allow these individuals to return, as they might reveal what they experienced.
“I think it is almost certain they would be executed, although there is a chance they would be imprisoned, which is essentially a death sentence,” he told DW.
He added that it was unfortunate that the faces of these men were shown on social media.
“Whether they choose to return or not, the North Korean authorities do not want news of what happened in Russia to spread among their population.”

Shigemura believes that Kim’s decision to deploy troops to Ukraine was a mistake, as it would be nearly impossible to suppress rumors about it. He also suggested that Putin may not have fully disclosed the risks involved in the operation.
Some media reports indicate that Russia deployed lightly armed and poorly trained North Korean troops in sudden assaults on Ukrainian positions, reserving Russian forces as backups.
Chun believes the two prisoners, and any future ones captured, would “be wise to go to South Korea…. Whatever the outcome, this is a tragedy,” he said.

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