South Korea’s spy agency had on Friday, confirmed that Ukrainian forces captured an injured North Korean soldier who was sent to support Russia’s war.
The soldier is now considered to be the first North Korean prisoner of war captured since December, when Pyongyang deployed forces to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.
This confirmation had come after a photo alleging to show the wounded soldier made rounds on Telegram.
According to Kyiv and Seoul, the North Korean government has sent over 10,000 soldiers to help Russia – though Moscow and Pyongyang have neither confirmed nor denied their presence.
Ukrainian forces, on the other hand, have said that North Korean soldiers have been issued fake Russian IDs. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also posted footage last week where he showed Russian troops burning the faces of slain North Koreans to conceal their identities.
Zelensky had on Monday, said that more than 3,000 North Korean troops have died or been wounded while fighting in Russia’s Kursk region.
He added that the partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang heightens the “risk of destabilisation” around the Korean peninsula.
In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Now, with the recent deployment of North Korean troops to Russia, political pundits have said that this is an indication of a growing alliance between the two pariah states.
The development, which is coming at a time when North Korea is mounting tensions with South Korea, has sparked worries in the West, with China, a longstanding ally of both sides keeping a cautious eye on the alliance.
