South Korean military authorities have used loudspeakers along the demilitarized zone to broadcast news of the capture of two North Korean soldiers by Ukrainian forces to the North Korean public.
The move comes amid Pyongyang’s continued official silence regarding its deployment of troops to Russia and the battlefield casualties they have suffered.
The South Korean military also reported that a note was found in a North Korean soldier’s notebook seized on the battlefield that instructed soldiers to kill themselves before capture.
According to South Korean military authorities on Thursday, the “Voice of Freedom,” a radio program produced by the Defense Ministry’s military psychological warfare unit, reported that South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) “confirmed that the Ukrainian military captured two North Korean soldiers on the Kursk front in Russia on Jan. 12.”
“The NIS stated that it plans to continue to share relevant information, including the battlefield situation, through close cooperation with the Ukrainian intelligence authorities,” it added.
Citing the NIS, Voice of Freedom reported that the North Korean soldiers were captured after being injured on the Kursk front and that they were born in 1999 and 2005. It also noted that they belong to the Reconnaissance General Bureau and appear to have served in the North Korean military since 2016 and 2021, respectively.
“On papers left by North Korean soldiers who died in battle against Ukrainian forces, the North Korean Workers’ Party emphasized self-destruction and suicide before being captured, and that the soldiers expected to join the Workers’ Party or be pardoned if they return to North Korea,” the Voice of Freedom reported.
The Voice of Freedom broadcast also reported that the NIS believes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may visit Russia in the first half of this year to receive military and economic rewards for the dispatch of troops.
The possibility of the captured soldiers being repatriated to South Korea was also mentioned in the Voice of Freedom broadcast.
The Voice of Freedom quoted the South Korean Foreign Ministry, which said during a briefing Tuesday that it plans to consult with Ukraine if captured North Korean soldiers ask to defect, explaining that they are South Korean citizens according to the Constitution.
![A captured North Korean soldier answers questions in a video posted on Jan. 11 on X by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. [SCREEN CAPTURE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/01/16/a73e3b97-2fc6-4348-917b-082b9b5fac27.jpg)
A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying, “We understand that the relevant South Korean authorities are communicating with Ukraine regarding information related to North Korean prisoners of war.”
North Korea currently does not acknowledge its deployment of troops to Russia, and therefore, “it is judged that the North Korean troops are not legitimate combatants and will not be granted the status of prisoners of war under international law,” the broadcast said.
“Ukrainian authorities want to exchange captured North Korean troops for Ukrainian prisoners of war, but Russia, a party to the conflict, has expressed a negative stance on this, so the repatriation of North Korean troops to South Korea is a significant issue.”
North Korea has remained silent both domestically and internationally regarding the capture or death of North Korean troops dispatched to Russia. It is also noticeable that the international section of the North Korean state-run Rodong Sinmun has barely featured any news related to the Ukraine war this year.
Until early December last year, the Rodong Sinmun actively promoted Russia’s position, reporting almost daily on Western military aid to Ukraine.
This change may be because word of the deployment has spread in North Korea as battlefield casualties increase, with the regime concerned that reporting on the war could worsen public opinion.
South Korea’s NIS reported that North Korean authorities have issued death certificates to the families of the deceased soldiers.
Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un’s public activities have also decreased significantly this month.
Kim has not been seen in public since the release of video footage of him and his daughter Kim Ju-ae supervising the test launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile on Jan. 6.
“It may be a breather in preparation for next week’s Supreme People’s Assembly policy speech,” said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification. “They are probably refining their message by monitoring U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration speech and the confirmation hearings for Trump’s diplomatic and security team.”
BY LEE YOO-JUNG, LEE KEUN-PYUNG, LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]
