Injured North Korean Soldier, Captured By Ukraine During War, Dies

A North Korean soldier who was captured whereas combating in Russia’s battle towards Ukraine has died of his wounds, South Korea’s spy company stated on Friday. 

Pyongyang has deployed hundreds of troops to bolster Russia’s army, together with within the Kursk border area the place Ukraine mounted a shock border incursion in August.

A kind of North Korean troopers was captured alive by the Ukrainian military on Thursday, a South Korean intelligence supply instructed AFP, including that the situation the place he was seized was not identified.

Hours later, Seoul’s Nationwide Intelligence Service (NIS) stated that the soldier had succumbed to his wounds. 

“It has been confirmed by means of an allied intelligence company that the North Korean soldier captured alive on December twenty sixth has simply handed away attributable to worsening wounds,” the South’s spy company stated in an announcement. 

Friday’s affirmation got here days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that just about 3,000 North Korean troopers had been “killed or wounded” as far as they joined Russian troops in fight.

South Korea’s intelligence service had beforehand put the variety of killed or wounded North Koreans at 1,000, saying the excessive casualty charge might be right down to an unfamiliar battlefield setting and their lack of functionality to counter drone assaults.

Pyongyang’s troopers had been additionally being “utilised as expendable frontline assault models”, lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun stated, talking final week after a briefing by South Korea’s spy company.

‘Harmful growth’

North Korea and Russia have strengthened their army ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

A landmark defence pact between Pyongyang and Moscow signed in June got here into pressure this month, with Russian President Vladimir Putin hailing it as a “breakthrough doc”.

North Korean state media stated Friday that Putin despatched a New Yr’s message to North Korean chief Kim Jong Un, saying “the bilateral ties between our two nations have been elevated after our talks in June in Pyongyang”.

Ukraine’s allies have referred to as Pyongyang’s rising involvement in Russia’s battle in Ukraine a “harmful growth” of the battle.

Seoul’s army believes that North Korea was looking for to modernise its standard warfare capabilities by means of fight expertise gained within the Russia-Ukraine battle.

NATO chief Mark Rutte had additionally stated that Moscow was offering help to Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programmes in trade for the troops.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Employees (JCS) stated Monday that Pyongyang is reportedly “making ready for the rotation or extra deployment of troopers” and supplying “240mm rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled artillery” to the Russian military.

Pyongyang’s involvement in Russia’s battle towards Ukraine had prompted warnings from Seoul. 

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol, at the moment suspended, stated in November that Seoul was “not ruling out the potential for offering weapons” to Ukraine, which might mark a serious shift to a long-standing coverage barring the sale of weapons to nations in lively battle.

(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)