If these POWs do in fact defect to South Korea their families back in North Korea will likely face punishment by being sent to labor camps:
The government said Seoul has not changed its position regarding accepting to the nation, North Korean soldiers held captive by the Ukrainian military in the Russia-Ukraine war should they wish to defect to South Korea.
An official at Seoul’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the North Korean captives are considered prisoners of war, regardless of Pyongyang’s acknowledgement of their deployment.
The official added that in accordance with the 1949 Geneva Conventions, they must not be repatriated against their will to their home country, where they could face persecution.
This is the first time that Russia has admitted that North Korean troops have been aiding them in their war against Ukraine:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for the deployment of troops to support its war with Ukraine, pledging that their bilateral friendship, forged on battlefields, will continue to grow in all areas, the Kremlin said Monday.
Putin conveyed his gratitude to Kim for the “active role” played by North Korean soldiers in the fight against Ukraine, his statement updated on the website of his office said, just hours after Pyongyang officially confirmed its troop deployment to Russia.
He praised the solidarity, justice and genuine camaraderie North Korean soldiers had shown, adding that “We highly appreciate this and are sincerely grateful, personally to the Chairman of State Affairs, Comrade Kim Jong-un, as well as the entire leadership and the people” of North Korea.
It would be foolish of the North Koreans to not test the effectiveness of their weapon systems in Ukraine so this should not be a surprise to anyone:
North Korea is using its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to test weapons it could deploy against the South in a future conflict, Ukraine’s ambassador to Seoul said in a news report Sunday. Ukraine and South Korea share a common adversary, Ukrainian Ambassador to South Korea Dmytro Ponomarenko said in written remarks published by Yonhap News. South Korea “should not forget that Pyongyang also uses Ukrainian soil as a testing ground for its weaponry, which could be used in future possible standoff,” Ponomarenko said. Seoul “has no reason to hesitate in the development of full-scale military-technical cooperation” with Kyiv, he said. “It’s a matter of interest for both Kyiv and Seoul,” he added.
North Korea is continuing to double down on their support to Russia’s war against Ukraine:
North Korea appears to have deployed additional troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, although the number of recently deployed troops is being assessed, South Korea’s spy agency said Thursday.
“Following about a monthlong lull, North Korean troops were placed back in the frontline region of Kursk starting in the first week of February,” the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a note to the press.
“It appears that there has been a deployment of additional troops, but their size is still being examined,” the NIS said.
The assessment follows a news report that between 1,000 and 3,000 North Korean troops were newly transported to Kursk via Russian cargo ships and military airplanes between January and February in the second round of such troop deployment.
Ukrainian influencer that came to Japan three years ago on a refugee visa quickly gained popularity among Japanese simps for being cute and having the Japanese ability of a toddler.
This Soldier must not care much about whatever family he has in North Korea because they will assuredly be sent to work camps due to this decision:
One of the two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine has expressed his wish to go to South Korea, a news report said Wednesday, in what would be the first known case for a North Korean captive to voice an intent to defect to the South.
A North Korean solider, identified only by his surname Ri, said in an interview with the Chosun Ilbo that he never knew he would engage in combat against Ukraine as he was told that he would be sent to Russia for training as an overseas student.
“I have made up my mind 80 percent … Above all, I will seek refuge and am thinking about going to the Republic of Korea (ROK). If I apply for asylum, would they take me?” Ri said, when asked about his plan for the future.
If these Soldiers even wanted to return to North Korea, would the Kim regime even allow them? Officially North Korea has never confirmed they are at war with Ukraine. Accepting these Soldiers back would confirm they are in fact fighting against Ukraine:
The Ukrainian government is open to discussions with South Korea regarding the potential transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers to the South, according to Ukrainian Ambassador to South Korea Dmytro Ponomarenko.
While Kyiv has yet to begin formal negotiations with Seoul, Ponomarenko said Ukraine is willing to cooperate on transferring the soldiers if they refuse to return to their home country.
“Given the threat to the life and freedom of North Korean servicemen in the event of their repatriation to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and if they refuse to go back, we are open for a dialogue with international partners, in particular the Republic of Korea, regarding the possibilities of their transfer to third countries,” Ponomarenko said in a recent written interview with The Korea Times, referring the two Koreas by their official names.
It looks like the Kim regime may be preparing more Soldiers for the meat grinder in Russia’s war agaisnt Ukraine:
North Korea may be accelerating plans to send more troops to replace frontline casualties incurred fighting Ukraine on behalf of Russia. Pyongyang plans to send Moscow an unspecified number of troops to replace those killed, wounded or imprisoned, according to a Friday report from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The North Korean reinforcements are expected to arrive within two months, according to a New York Times report published Wednesday that cited an unnamed U.S. defense official.
Roughly 12,000 North Koreans may have deployed to Russia as early as October to fight in the nearly 2-year conflict, U.S. and Ukrainian authorities have said. Of those, around 3,000 were killed or wounded in fighting in Russia’s western front, South Korean lawmakers Lee Seong-kweun and Park Sun-won, citing a closed-door National Intelligence Service briefing, told reporters earlier this month.
This really is not surprising that the rank and file North Korean Soldiers did not know they were being sent to fight against Ukraine:
One of the two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine this month has claimed that he arrived in Russia without knowing whom he would be fighting, according to another video of his interrogation released by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Earlier this month, Zelenskyy disclosed that his forces had captured the North Korean soldiers in Russia’s western front-line region of Kursk, sharing videos of their interrogation on the social media platform X.
In the latest video posted on Monday (local time), one of the captured soldiers said he arrived in Russia aboard a ship with around 100 others before being transported inland by rail with them.
“Even after coming here, I didn’t know that I would be fighting the Ukrainian people,” the man said in the video in Korean. The video could not be independently verified.
