Two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine sent to South Korea, Zelensky says
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.
Ukraine has transferred two North Korean soldiers captured while fighting for Russia to South Korea, Volodymyr Zelensky said in an address to the United Nations General Assembly.
“Recently, we sent two North Korean prisoners of war to the Republic of Korea,” the Ukrainian president said, revealing that the prisoners had left Ukrainian custody.
South Korea stopped short of publicly confirming the transfer.
“It is difficult to confirm whether the individuals have been handled, the timing and route, or the specific details about the consultations between the two countries,” a foreign ministry official said, citing the issue of their safety.
The two North Koreans were captured by Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region in January last year, after being deployed there to support Russian troops fighting against Ukraine.
Mr Zelensky gave few details about the transfer but described the circumstances surrounding the capture of one of the men.
“These guys are not easy to capture alive. One of them, when he realised he was going to be taken prisoner, tried to kill himself. And he was shocked that fate did not let him die,” he said.
The two soldiers were part of a much larger North Korean deployment to Russia. South Korean and Ukrainian estimates have put the number of North Korean troops sent to Russia since 2024 at roughly 14,000 to 15,000. Most were deployed to the Kursk region, where Russian forces were fighting to push back a Ukrainian incursion.
In February 2026, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service estimated that around 6,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded.
South Korea has previously said it would accept North Korean prisoners who wished to resettle in the South, according to a previous Kyiv Independent report.
South Korean president Lee Jae Myung and Mr Zelensky also discussed the issue during their meeting in July on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Ankara, agreeing that the soldiers’ wishes should be respected in resolving the matter, Yonhap reported.
Reports from South Korea have said the two soldiers had expressed a desire to defect to South.
According to NK News, the two they were born in 1999 and 2005 and had expressed a wish to defect to South Korea.
Earlier this month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un praised troops involved in “overseas military operations” during celebrations marking the 78th anniversary of the country’s founding, state media KCNA reported.
Speaking at an event in Pyongyang, Mr Kim thanked workers and soldiers for their contributions to the state and expressed what KCNA described as “special gratitude and respect” for commanders and troops “participating in overseas military operations.
North Korea has also provided Russia with artillery ammunition and missiles as the military relationship between Pyongyang and Moscow has deepened.
Mr Zelensky criticised the deployment in his UN speech, questioning why North Korean soldiers were being sent to fight in a war outside their country.
“This is madness too. Why should Koreans give their lives in a war against Ukraine? Kim Jong Un uses them like currency. And he gets something in return.”
The expanding military partnership between Russia and North Korea has raised concerns in South Korea and among its allies over possible Russian assistance to Pyongyang’s military programmes.
North Korea has continued to develop its weapons capability and in fact said earlier this year that he could return to talks with the US if the country dropped its “hostile policy” against Pyongyang and respected what he called North Korea’s status as a nuclear state.
