A newly released interrogation video of a captured North Korean soldier reveals that he did not even know whether his name was written on the Russian ID card he carried, as he could not understand the Russian language.
On January 14, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shared a four-minute video on X (formerly Twitter) showing the questioning of the North Korean prisoner of war (POW).
“Communication between captured North Korean soldiers and Ukrainian investigators is ongoing,” Zelensky stated. “We are working to establish the facts and verify all details.”
He added, “The world will learn the full truth about how Russia is using these soldiers. They grew up in complete informational isolation and know nothing about Ukraine. Russia is exploiting them solely to prolong and escalate this war.”
Zelensky concluded, “This war serves no one but Russia.”
The soldier in the video was reportedly one of two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces near Kursk in western Russia. Unlike the other POW, who suffered a jaw injury making it difficult for him to speak, the soldier in this video was able to respond to questions while lying down, using a Korean interpreter.
During the interrogation, the Ukrainian investigator asked the soldier about the circumstances of his capture, the counterfeit Russian ID he carried, and the combat protocols he had been trained to follow.
The soldier explained that he was injured during combat and could not retreat. He hid alone in a forest for three to five days before being discovered by Ukrainian forces and transported in a vehicle.
When asked if his Russian ID card contained a photo or his name, he responded that it had no photo and was entirely in Russian, so he did not know whether his name was listed.
The soldier also revealed that he had been trained to give captured Ukrainian soldiers a choice by drawing a “house” and a “gun” on a piece of paper. If the captive chose the house, they were to be released; if they chose the gun, they were to be killed. However, he noted that his unit had not encountered any Ukrainian soldiers to take as hostages or prisoners.
BY YOUNGNAM KIM [kim.youngnam@koreadaily.com]
