When Ukrainian soldiers captured two North Korean prisoners of war last month, it provided the first undeniable proof of Pyongyang’s direct involvement in the war against Ukraine.
It also shed some light on the mindset and training of the conscripted North Korean soldiers sent to fight Russia’s war a continent away from their home.
Highly disciplined, ready to die but also very young and with little battlefield experience they elicited curiosity and even some pity from the Ukrainian soldiers who captured them during two separate missions on Jan. 9.
Their capture confirmed what Ukraine, South Korea and the U.S. had been saying for months: Thousands of North Korean troops were fighting alongside Kremlin forces in the battle for Russia’s Kursk border region — something Moscow had never confirmed.
Capturing a North Korean prisoner had long been an objective for the Ukrainian special forces, even as the North Koreans seemed willing to kill themselves or a wounded comrade to elude capture. Only one had been taken captive, in December, but he died of his wounds.
Then intelligence came about three soldiers stranded in the so-called gray zone — a dangerous no-man’s-land on the front line controlled by neither side. The soldiers were identified as North Koreans because they, not Russians, were operating in that sector of Kursk.
“They were likely abandoned,” said a Ukrainian soldier who participated in the mission and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because special forces members are not authorized to reveal their names.
The team advanced through a barren winter forest toward the coordinates where a drone had spotted the three lost soldiers.
“Koreans are incredibly tough,” the soldier said. “We’ve seen them carrying enormous loads: one soldier as small as a child, with a heavy backpack and a machine gun, yet sprinting.”
As they closed in, the Ukrainians came under enemy fire, and two of the North Koreans were killed in the firefight. The third soldier was wounded in his legs.
When the Ukrainians reached him, his only remaining weapon was a single grenade. Disoriented, he didn’t resist as the group began providing first aid and their commander discreetly removed the grenade. The North Korean, unaware of this, continued searching his pockets for it afterward.
The Ukrainian soldier said he tried to communicate with the captured man. He first spoke in Russian, eliciting a faint response. Then he heard the soldier muttering phrases in English and switched to his own broken English.
He asked the soldier’s age and how long he had been serving. The soldier said he was 21 years old and had already spent four years in the military.
“He said conscription starts at 16 and lasts eight years,” the Ukrainian soldier said. Despite his own 12 years of service and being a father of three, the soldier felt an unexpected wave of compassion.
