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Captured North Korean soldiers in Ukraine reject asylum

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service has confirmed that two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces have shown no interest in seeking asylum in South Korea.

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South Korea’s National Intelligence Service has confirmed that two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces have shown no interest in seeking asylum in South Korea.

The soldiers, who were captured behind enemy lines, have reportedly not expressed any desire to resettle in the democratic South, despite the long history of North Korean defections. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a post on the social media platform X, expressed willingness to hand the soldiers back to North Korea if the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, arranges for a prisoner exchange with Ukrainians detained in Russia. He also noted that “there may be other options” for the soldiers who do not wish to return to their home country. A video released by the Ukrainian government showed one of the captured soldiers expressing a preference to remain in Ukraine.

During a closed briefing in South Korea’s National Assembly, the National Intelligence Service confirmed its involvement in the questioning of the North Korean soldiers by Ukrainian authorities. According to two legislators present at the meeting, the soldiers have not shown any interest in moving to South Korea. The agency stated it would engage in discussions with Ukrainian authorities should the soldiers later express a wish to resettle in South Korea.

South Korea has long been a destination for North Korean defectors, with approximately 34,000 North Koreans fleeing to the South since the late 1990s to escape economic hardship and political oppression. The Ministry of Unification, which handles inter-Korean relations, emphasized that any potential asylum for the captured soldiers would require “legal reviews, including on international law, and consultations with related nations.”

In the wake of North Korea’s involvement in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, South Korea’s spy agency has reported that around 300 North Korean soldiers have died and 2,700 have been injured in the war, marking the first large-scale engagement of North Korean forces since the Korean War. Despite the soldiers’ struggle to adapt to modern warfare technologies like drones, concerns persist in Seoul about the long-term threat posed by North Korea’s involvement in the war. There are fears that the conflict could provide crucial combat experience to North Korean forces and potentially lead to technology transfers from Russia that could enhance North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.

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