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The fatal lengths North Korean soldiers will go to to avoid capture by Ukraine

The North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Vladimir Putin’s military have shown ferocious commitment, brutality – and a determination to kill themselves rather than face capture, The Independent has been told.

A Ukrainian military source with direct knowledge of these troops has disclosed in brutal detail the extraordinary lengths to which they will go to not be caught.

Since news of their presence in Russia emerged in October, just two North Korean soldiers have been captured alive amid varying claims from Ukraine of heavy losses among their ranks.

One of those was so determined not to be held as a prisoner of war that he tried to bite his own wrists after being wounded in the Kursk region, according to the senior military source in Sumy, northern Ukraine, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The other man, the source alleged, had charged into a concrete telegraph pole when he saw he was in danger of being captured.

“He didn’t realise, at first, that Ukrainian soldiers were closing in on him. When he realised that he was being captured by Ukrainians, he rushed at a concrete pillar [telegraph pole] and hit his head against that pillar with all his strength in the hope of killing himself.”

Named as Lee Jong Nam, a 25-year-old sergeant from Pyongyang, he was originally said to have been wounded in the jaw during fighting. He told his interrogators he was in a rifle reconnaissance platoon. He also said, multiple sources have confirmed, that he was one of a very small number of survivors of an attack launched on January 8.

He allegedly said that all of the officers in his company were killed and he was the only survivor of a 20-strong platoon. The other North Korean was placed in Ukrainian custody, where he started to self-harm, the source said.

“When this guy was transported to Kyiv and someone from the special forces searched him, they found a small blade sewn into his pants. He was hoping to cut himself as soon as he was left alone,” he added.

“We have seen video from our own drones of these North Korean soldiers killing themselves rather than face being captured.

“They do it by using one of their own grenades or shooting themselves mostly. We don’t know why they do it but we’ve never taken a [North] Korean alive who hasn’t tried to kill himself.”

These claims are from a trusted, independent source in the Ukrainian military who plays no part in Ukrainian propaganda efforts, and The Independent’s interview was not part of a pre-arranged media visit.

The number of North Koreans who have died varies according to who is providing the briefing. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky puts the number as high as 3,000. Western officials claim around 1,000 North Koreans have been killed.

Casualty numbers are spurious at best and form part of an attempt to shape the narrative of war by belligerents, and their allies. Painting the North Koreans as fanatical in their conduct could form part of an attempt to taint them as “unthinking” or “brainwashed”.

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  • Source of information and images “independent”

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