Ukraine, the United States and South Korea accuse North Korea of sending more than 10,000 of its soldiers to Russia to fight against Ukraine. According to Seoul and Washington, they are participating in combat operations in the Russian Kursk region, wearing Russian military uniforms and using Russian weapons. Last week, Ukrainian authorities announced the capture of two North Korean soldiers. President Zelensky said that there will be even more captured North Korean soldiers in the future and expressed Kiev's readiness to return them to Pyongyang if North Korean leader Kim Jong-un forces Moscow to release Ukrainian soldiers in Russian captivity.
However, the captured soldiers have other options if they do not want to return to their homeland. "These two men and all the other North Korean citizens who are captured have three options," said Chung In-beom, a retired general in the South Korean army who is a senior fellow at the National Institute for Deterrence. "They can ask to be returned to North Korea, to stay in Ukraine, or to go to a third country. But the third option only makes sense if that third country is South Korea, where they will be welcome," he said. "They will be executed immediately in North Korea." President Zelensky released a recording of the interrogation of wounded North Korean soldiers. One of them said, using an interpreter, that he did not know he was going to war in Ukraine. His commanders told him that "this is just an exercise." During the interrogation, he also said that he wanted to return to North Korea, and the other prisoner of war assured that he would do what he was told, but if he had a choice, he would like to stay and live in Ukraine.
In this regard, Chung also told DW that in North Korea these soldiers “would be executed immediately“. For the North Korean regime, the most important thing in this case is secrecy, he claims. According to documents seized from the Ukrainian side, the soldiers were ordered to commit suicide if there was a danger of being captured. “The fact that these fighters surrendered instead of committing suicide means that they did not carry out official orders.“
The regime in Pyongyang does not want wounded soldiers who return home to tell their families and friends about what they experienced in Russia, the South Korean general also points out. Neither North Korea nor Russia has confirmed that North Korean fighters are involved in Russia's war against Ukraine, and Pyongyang's complete control over the country's media means that the vast majority of North Koreans are also unaware of it.
Seoul: North Korean soldier death toll rises
At least 300 North Korean soldiers in Ukraine have been killed and another 2,700 wounded, according to South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS), which is working with the Ukrainian government. Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Tokyo's Waseda University, and a North Korea expert, is also convinced that the regime in Pyongyang will not allow these soldiers to talk about their experiences.
“It is almost certain that they will be killed, although it is not excluded that they will also be sent to prison, which in any case is equivalent to a death sentence“, he told DW. According to him, the faces of the captured North Koreans should not have been shown on social media because - if they decide not to return home - their families will be sent to camps where death awaits them. "These soldiers may be hoping that this will not happen if they agree to return," Shigemura added.
"Kim made a mistake in sending the soldiers"
The Japanese professor believes that Kim Jong-un's decision to send troops to Russia for the war in Ukraine was a mistake because rumors will spread when the soldiers return home or their relatives receive news of their deaths.
"This is a huge headache for the authorities because the last thing they want is for the soldiers to come back and start talking," he said. "The North Koreans have not been told that their sons are fighting for Russia against Ukraine, and of course they will want to know why. It will be difficult for the authorities to prevent the spread of this information, Shigemura is convinced. For this reason, he considers Kim Jong-un's decision a grave mistake. He believes Kim has overestimated the capabilities of his troops or underestimated the strength of the Ukrainian resistance.
According to the professor, it is also possible that Russian President Vladimir Putin misled his ally about the risks of war. Several media outlets have reported that Russian military commanders have thrown lightly armed and poorly trained North Korean units into bloody attacks against well-prepared Ukrainian units in order to keep Russian troops in reserve.
"This is a tragedy"
Retired General Chung In-beom believes that the two prisoners of war, as well as others who may follow them in the future, will do the "wise thing" and go to South Korea. "In any case, it's a tragedy. These two young boys were told they were going to training, and then they ended up on the front lines and were injured. Their government lied to them. It's a sinister regime. I can only sympathize with these people," Chung told DW.