By Tom Balmforth and Brenda Goh
UNITED NATIONS/SEOUL, Sept 23 (Reuters) – Ukraine has transferred two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday in an address to the United Nations General Assembly.
“Recently, we sent two North Korean prisoners of war to the Republic of Korea,” said Zelenskiy in his speech.
“These guys are not easy to capture alive. One of them, when he realized he was going to be taken prisoner, tried to kill himself. And he was shocked that fate did not let him die.”
Zelenskiy did not provide more details about the return. Ukraine captured the two North Koreans in Russia’s Kursk region in January last year. They were the first North Korean soldiers to be apprehended alive since the country joined the Russia-Ukraine war in 2024.
Zelenskiy said at the time that he would hand them over to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if he could facilitate their exchange for Ukrainians held captive in Russia.
Human rights groups, however, urged him to repatriate them to South Korea citing the risks of punishments the soldiers faced. South Korean media reported that the two captured soldiers had expressed their desire to defect to South Korea.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said it would not be able to confirm the matter, including details such as the timing of their return, citing the safety of the soldiers and their families. The country’s unification ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
South Korea in June said it would accept all North Korean prisoners of war who fought for Russia and opposed any repatriation of them to Russia or North Korea.
Zelenskiy also criticised North Korea for sending its troops to fight for Russia.
“This is madness too. Why should Koreans give their lives in a war against Ukraine? Kim Jong Un uses them like currency. And he gets something in return,” he said.
North Korea has sent around 14,000 to 15,000 soldiers since 2024 to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to Ukrainian and South Korean estimates. Most of them have been deployed in the Russian region of Kursk, where they helped Moscow’s forces repel a Ukrainian incursion.
The country has also supplied Russia with millions of artillery and mortar rounds, ballistic missiles, long-range artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, according to Ukrainian and independent assessments.
(Reporting by Brenda Goh and Joyce Lee in Seoul and Tom Balmforth in New York; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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