By Abdul Jabbar | News Wire
An injured North Korean soldier captured by Ukrainian forces has died, according to a report from Yonhap News Agency, citing South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS). This marks the first known death of a North Korean prisoner of war in Ukraine since Pyongyang reportedly began supporting Russia’s military efforts.
The NIS stated that the soldier died from severe injuries, a development confirmed through cooperation with an allied intelligence agency. The soldier’s capture and subsequent demise highlight North Korea’s controversial role in the ongoing conflict, with Kyiv and Seoul alleging that Pyongyang has deployed over 10,000 troops to aid Moscow. Neither North Korea nor Russia has officially acknowledged the deployment.
A photograph of the soldier circulated on social media prior to his death, reportedly showing his capture by Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian intelligence claims that North Korean troops have been provided with falsified Russian identities to obscure their origins. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian forces of burning the faces of dead North Korean soldiers to further conceal their identities.
South Korean intelligence suggests that many of these troops come from North Korea’s elite 11th Corps, also known as the Storm Corps, specializing in infiltration and sabotage operations. Analysts believe their deployment could complicate the conflict dynamics while posing risks to regional stability near the Korean Peninsula.
According to Zelensky, over 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured in combat in Russia’s Kursk region. He also emphasized the deepening ties between Moscow and Pyongyang as a troubling signal of escalating cooperation between two authoritarian regimes.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, has seen increasing international scrutiny, with the involvement of North Korean forces underscoring the complex geopolitical implications of the ongoing war.
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