North Korean soldiers in Ukraine carry orders to commit suicide "before being captured"

South Korea and Ukraine offered new details about the presence of North Korean troops on the Ukrainian front. The latest reports from Seoul indicate that the number of North Korean soldiers killed in clashes against Ukraine amounts to 300.

They are joined by more than 2,700 wounded in combat. This was announced by the Seoul parliament, citing a report by its intelligence agency. The figure comes to swell the numbers that South Korean intelligence already offered in the past, after the first clashes between Kiev's infantry with North Korean troops arrived in Europe to help Russia's war effort.

"The deployment of North Korean troops in Russia has expanded" and estimates suggest that the number of casualties "includes approximately 300 dead and 2,700 wounded," deputy Lee Seong-kweun told reporters after attending the presentation of a South Korean intelligence agency report.

It would be nearly a third of the total number of troops the Pyongyang regime would have committed to the Ukraine front. The Pentagon estimated at around 10,000 the number of North Korean uniformed personnel deployed in support of the Russian armed forces.

Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has acknowledged that North Korean troops have been deployed to fight Ukrainian forces.

The alleged involvement of a foreign military in the conflict marks a major escalation in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began nearly three years ago. The Western coalitions warned Moscow and Pyongyang not to deploy North Korean troops in Ukraine.

Captured soldiers

Along with the report of troops wounded in the conflict, it also emerged that Ukrainian forces were reportedly holding two North Korean servicemen in custody.

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski assured that he is willing to hand over the soldiers to North Korea if the country's authoritarian leader, Kim Jong Un, arranges an exchange with Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia.

Zelenski went so far as to post on his social networks photographs and videos of the North Korean soldiers in custody of the Ukrainian authorities. Among the images released there are also of Russian documents that were in possession of the North Korean soldiers.

According to Ukraine, it is a Russian military identity card listing Turan, in the Russian republic of Tuva, which shares a border with Mongolia, as the place of birth. According to Ukrainian intelligence (SBU), the soldier who was found with the ID card told interrogators that he was issued the document during the fall of 2024, in Russia.

The North Korean soldiers are being interrogated in cooperation with South Korea, as they reportedly speak only Korean. According to South Korean MP Lee Seong-kweun, written orders have been found among the soldiers' belongings urging them to commit suicide rather than be imprisoned.