By Ju-min Park and John Geddie
SEOUL (Reuters) – After a battle in Russia’s snowy western area of Kursk this week, Ukrainian particular forces scoured the our bodies of greater than a dozen slain North Korean enemy troopers.
Amongst them, they discovered one nonetheless alive. However as they approached, he detonated a grenade, blowing himself up, in line with an outline of the preventing posted on social media by Ukraine’s Particular Operations Forces on Monday.
The forces mentioned their troopers escaped the blast unhurt. Reuters couldn’t confirm the incident.
However it’s amongst mounting proof from the battlefield, intelligence experiences and testimonies of defectors that some North Korean troopers are resorting to excessive measures as they help Russia’s three-year battle with Ukraine.
“Self-detonation and suicides: that’s the reality about North Korea,” mentioned Kim, a 32-year-old former North Korean soldier who defected to the South in 2022, requesting he solely be recognized by his surname as a consequence of fears of reprisals towards his household left within the North.
“These soldiers who left home for a fight there have been brainwashed and are truly ready to sacrifice themselves for Kim Jong Un,” he added, referring to the reclusive North Korean chief.
Kim, launched to Reuters by Seoul-based human rights group NK Imprisonment Victims’ Household Affiliation, mentioned he had labored for North Korea’s army in Russia for about seven years up till 2021 on building initiatives to earn international forex for the regime.
Ukrainian and Western assessments say Pyongyang has deployed some 11,000 troopers to help Moscow’s forces in Russia’s western Kursk area, which Ukraine seized in a shock incursion final 12 months. Greater than 3,000 have been killed or injured, in line with Kyiv.
North Korea’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Moscow and Pyongyang initially dismissed experiences concerning the North’s troop deployment as “fake news”. However Russian president Vladimir Putin in October didn’t deny that North Korean troopers had been at present in Russia and a North Korean official mentioned any such deployment could be lawful.
Ukraine this week launched movies of what it mentioned had been two captured North Korean troopers. One of many troopers expressed a need to remain in Ukraine, and the opposite to return to North Korea, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy mentioned.
“ONE LAST BULLET”
North Korea’s deployment to Russia is its first main involvement in a battle for the reason that 1950-53 Korean Battle. North Korea reportedly despatched a a lot smaller contingent to the Vietnam Battle and to the civil battle in Syria.
The USA has warned the expertise in Russia will make North Korea “more capable of waging war against its neighbours”.
North Korea’s chief Kim has beforehand hailed his military as “the strongest in the world”, in line with state media. Propaganda movies launched by the regime in 2023 confirmed bare-chested troopers working throughout snowy fields, leaping into frozen lakes and punching blocks of ice for winter coaching.
However a South Korean lawmaker briefed by the nation’s spy company on Monday mentioned that the numbers of North Korean troopers wounded and killed on the battlefield suggests they’re unprepared for contemporary warfare, resembling drone assaults, and could also be getting used as “cannon fodder” by Russia.
Extra worryingly there are indicators these troops have been instructed to commit suicide, he mentioned.
“Recently, it has been confirmed that a North Korean soldier was in danger of being captured by the Ukrainian military, so he shouted for General Kim Jong Un and pulled out a grenade to try to blow himself up, but was killed,” Lee Seong-kweun, who sits on the South Korean parliament’s intelligence committee, mentioned.
Memos carried by slain North Korean troopers additionally present that North Korean authorities emphasised self-destruction and suicide earlier than seize, he added.
When requested about additional particulars of the instances he referred to, he declined to elaborate saying it was info from Ukraine shared with South Korea’s Nationwide Intelligence Service (NIS). NIS didn’t reply calls in search of touch upon Tuesday.
Suicides by troopers or spies not solely present loyalty to the Kim Jong Un regime however are additionally a technique to shield their households left at dwelling, Yang Uk, a defence analyst on the Asan Institute of Coverage Research mentioned.
Ukraine’s Zelenskiy mentioned on Sunday Kyiv is able to hand over captured North Korean troopers to their chief Kim Jong Un if he can facilitate their change for Ukrainians held captive in Russia.
For some North Korean troopers, nevertheless, being captured and despatched again to Pyongyang could be seen as a destiny worse than demise, mentioned Kim, the North Korean defector and former soldier.
“Becoming a prisoner of war means treason. Being captured means you are a traitor. Leave one last bullet, that’s what we are talking about in the military,” he mentioned.
