The Ukrainian military found fake identification documents with Russian names on the bodies of North Korean soldiers killed in combat in Russia, seemingly to hide their identities, according to a report Sunday.
Ukrainian media outlet RBC reported that the Ukrainian Special Operation Forces disclosed through Facebook that they had killed three North Korean soldiers on the Kursk front in Russia, along with photos of what appear to be fake military IDs.
“According to the decrypted data, the real names of the killed North Koreans are Ban Gook-jin, Lee Dae-hyuk, and Cho Chul-ho,” the Ukrainian Special Operation Forces’ Facebook post said. “According to Russian documents, they are Kim Kahn Solat Albertovich, Dongnk Jan Suropovich, and Beljek Aganak Kap-oolovic.”
The IDs did not have photographs or stamps from the issuing agencies, and the birthplace of the ID holders was listed as the Tuvan Autonomous Oblast, the hometown of former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, raising doubts about their authenticity.
Moreover, the signatures in the IDs were handwritten in Korean, in contrast to the rest of the text, which was written using other implements.
The Ukrainian Special Operation Forces claimed that this “indicates the real origin of these soldiers” and reaffirmed the fact that Russia was using every means possible to hide the presence of foreign troops and losses on the front lines.
RBC also reported that it obtained the interrogation materials of some Russian soldiers captured in Ukraine on Sunday, with some of the prisoners of war complaining about their North Korean allies.
“[They] don’t have theory but they have a lot of practice,” one Russian prisoner of war said of the North Korean soldiers, according to the RBC report. “They are insolent, they can take away a rifle from an ordinary soldier.”
“They say that they’re headless, that they don’t care where to go and how they go,” said another Russian soldier. “Insane guys.”
Another prisoner stated that the North Korean soldiers handled their weapons carelessly, and there were cases where they had shot their fellows in the leg or their instructors in the stomach.
Russian soldiers also reportedly complained about the language barrier between themselves and the North Koreans. “To be honest, the farther away from the [North] Koreans, the calmer it is,” one of the Russian prisoners said. ”They shoot at quadcopters during the day, at FPVs, at anything that flies — it doesn’t matter if it’s Russian or Ukrainian FPV, they even shoot them down.”
BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]
