Ukrainian troops engaged in Russia’s Kursk region have claimed responsibility for capturing two North Korean soldiers and handing them over to intelligence in Kiev for interrogation. Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have commented, but if the news were confirmed it would be the first time that Kim Jong-un’s military ended up in the hands of the Ukrainians, shedding light on their actual role alongside the armed forces of Vladimir Putin. Was Volodymyr Zelensky to announce the capture of the two North Koreans: “Although wounded, they survived and were taken to Kiev and are speaking with SBU investigators,” he wrote on social media. The two – according to what the Ukrainian 007 reported – confirmed that they were elite soldiers of the army. One in particular, who qualified as a rifleman, had a fake Russian identity card and said he believed he was “going to Russia for training, not to fight a war against Ukraine.”
The other man wrote his answers because of an injured jaw and said he was a scout sniper. The Ukrainian security services then released a video with the two men in hospital beds. No audio recordings were released, but the official version is that the prisoners spoke through Korean interpreters collaborating with Seoul’s intelligence. This operation, according to Kiev, provided «irrefutable evidence of the participation of the People’s Republic of North Korea in Russia’s war against our country, with regular troops and not mercenaries». In December the Ukrainians claimed to have captured several North Koreans, but they had died from their serious wounds. Furthermore, Zelensky accuses, the Russians themselves “finish off their wounded” and burn the bodies to hide evidence of another state’s participation in the conflict.” The Ukrainian leader assured that he will guarantee the media access to prisoners of war, because “the world must know what is happening”.
The United States and NATO had already confirmed the presence of at least 10,000 North Koreans in the Kursk oblast in October, following the signing of a military assistance pact between Putin and Kim. The involvement of a regular foreign army (so far never confirmed by the Kremlin) represented a significant escalation in the invasion launched almost three years ago by Putin. Perhaps the sign that the conflict is entering a potentially decisive phase with the imminent return of Donald Trump at the White House. It is no coincidence that both Moscow and Kiev are trying by all means to improve or maintain their positions on the field, before the American president accelerates to start a negotiation.