N. Korean Soldier Claims He Thought He Was On Training Mission, Ukraine SaysBy RFE/RL January 11, 2025Ukrainian investigators are questioning two soldiers from North Korea whom the country's forces captured in Russia's Kursk region, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
He did not provide evidence that they were North Korean, but if this is confirmed, it will be the first time Ukrainian authorities have published images of captured North Korean troops.
That soldier said he was born in 1999 and was a sniper in the North Korean army.
Last fall, Moscow sent some 11,000 North Korean troops to the Kursk region to support Russian forces there.
Referring to the captured soldiers on X, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said that the "first North Korean prisoners of war are now in Kyiv" and that they were "regular [North Korean] troops, not mercenaries."