When sent to the front in the Kursk region of Russia, North Korean soldiers were told that they would be fighting South Koreans who were helping Ukraine.
Two captured North Korean soldiers told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) about this.
Captured Paek (21) and Ri (26) said they arrived in Russia last fall along with 12 000 other North Korean soldiers.
"I didnʼt know I was going to Russia. I only realized it after I arrived," Paek told reporters.
In November 2024, he was put on a train and sent to the Far East. In Russia, the man said, they gave him a military uniform and a military ID, but he didnʼt know Cyrillic, so he didnʼt understand what was written on it.
Paek was also given a bulletproof vest and an assault rifle, and then sent to military training. The training itself, as the prisoner said, was similar to those held in the DPRK, but these used drones. Russian instructors taught the Koreans how to use drones with the help of Korean translators. After the training, Paek was sent to the front, and only there did he realize that he had come to the war against Ukraine. He knew almost nothing about this war.
Ukrainian troops captured Paek after he had been wounded for five days.
The Wall Street Journal
For the first time, Paek took part in combat operations in early January 2025. As part of a detachment of 10 North Korean soldiers, he set up obstacles on the road used by the Ukrainian military. His detachment came under drone and artillery fire. Some of the North Korean soldiers were killed, and Peck was wounded in the leg — he did not decide to commit suicide because he lost consciousness. Five days later, on January 9, he was found by the Ukrainian military. He spent a week on the front line.
Peck did not expect to see Ukrainians—he thought he would be met by South Korean troops. He brandished a grenade and threatened to blow himself up before he was disarmed. The Ukrainian military were the first foreigners he had encountered, aside from the Russian instructors.
The second North Korean prisoner — Ri — went to Russia in October 2024 with the desire to gain “real combat experience”. On January 9, 2025, he was sent to storm Ukrainian positions — the same day Ri was captured. According to him, he was the only survivor of his unit.
Ri was convinced that he would fight against South Korean troops who were allegedly helping Ukraine.
The Wall Street Journal
According to Ri, North Koreans in the Kursk region should avoid capture at all costs. They were to blow themselves up if there was such a risk. This was discussed, in particular, at ideological trainings conducted by the North Korean secret police in Russia. And at the front they were read a New Yearʼs greeting from the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in which he says how much he "misses his comrades". Some soldiers were to rewrite this greeting by hand.
Both soldiers said they were told that in the Kursk region they would have to fight with South Korean soldiers fighting on the side of Ukraine. According to Ri, this was what motivated him to go to war: “I fought for Russia as if it were my homeland. I don’t know why, but I wasn’t afraid.”
These are the only North Korean prisoners of war who were taken alive. South Korea has offered to accept them. Negotiations are underway between Seoul and Kyiv. The prisoners said they were afraid to return to the DPRK because it could be dangerous for them. One said he was considering defecting to South Korea.
Participation of the DPRK military in the war in Ukraine
Ukrainian intelligence reported on October 24, 2024, that the first soldiers from the DPRK had already arrived at the front — in the Kursk region. There are approximately 12 000 soldiers, including 500 officers and three generals.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that more than 3 000 soldiers from the DPRK have already been killed or wounded. South Korean intelligence believes that 300 soldiers have been killed in the war and almost 2 700 have been wounded.
Zelensky first reported on December 27, 2024, that the Defense Forces had captured North Korean soldiers, but then they died of wounds. The North Korean soldiers were captured for the second time in January. Ukraine is ready to exchange them for its own soldiers.
South Korean intelligence believes that North Korea sent a new batch of troops to Russia in February 2025. They will be deployed on the contact line in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, where Russian soldiers are trying to push back Ukrainian fighters.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.