War in Ukraine: Wounded North Korean soldier captured and taken prisoner by kyiv, a first in the conflict

A wounded North Korean soldier was reportedly captured by the Ukrainian army in Kursk, we learned this Friday, December 27, 2024.

The Ukrainian military has captured a North Korean soldier deployed to fight in support of Russia, South Korean intelligence reported Friday, the first time since kyiv and the West reported that Pyongyang's troops were involved in the conflict.

A wounded soldier

The involvement of a regular foreign army was a major escalation of the invasion that was launched nearly three years ago by Vladimir Putin and is entering a critical phase with Donald Trump's return to the White House in less than a month.

“In real-time information exchanges with the intelligence agency of an allied country, it was confirmed that a wounded North Korean soldier was captured”, South Korea's National Intelligence Agency said in a statement, without giving further details on the circumstances.

The latter was responding to social media posts from Ukrainian accounts reporting the capture, with photos of a soldier presented as North Korean.

No confirmation of the presence of North Korean soldiers

According to Kiev, 12,000 North Korean soldiers, including “about 500 officers and three generals”, are engaged in the Russian region of Kursk, of which the Ukrainian army has occupied several hundred square kilometers since August.

Neither Russia nor North Korea have ever confirmed the presence of this contingent alongside the Russian army.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured Monday that nearly 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been “killed or wounded” since their engagement alongside Russia. Seoul, for its part, reported 1,100 “killed or wounded” on Monday.

The South Korean general staff has also observed preparations that make it think that North Korea is preparing to send new units to Russia, as reinforcements or to relieve those already fighting, in addition to drones.

No “significant impact on the situation”

A historic mutual defense treaty between Pyongyang and Moscow, signed in June, came into force earlier this month. It provides for “immediate military assistance” in the event of armed aggression by a third country.

Seoul considers that North Korea is seeking to modernize its conventional warfare capabilities with the assistance of Russia, via the experience acquired in the fights against Ukrainian forces.

“The involvement of the North Koreans in the fighting has not had a significant impact on the situation”, Yevgen Yerin, spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR), told AFP on Tuesday.

According to him, North Korean troops do not have experience in modern combat, particularly against drones that have become ubiquitous on the battlefield, and employ “more primitive tactics, from World War II or post-World War II.”

The hypothesis of peace negotiations

Ukraine and Russia have intensified their strikes in recent months, with massive bombings targeting the Ukrainian energy sector on Christmas Day, and want to do everything to strengthen their positions before Donald Trump returns to the White House in January.

The Republican, already President of the United States from 2017 to 2021, has repeatedly promised to restore peace in Ukraine “in 24 hours” and has called for an “immediate ceasefire” as well as talks.

But the vagueness surrounding his plan is causing concern in Ukraine. In difficulty on the front and very dependent on Western aid, it fears being forced into an agreement that would be unfavorable to it.

While the possibility of peace negotiations is increasingly being raised, the Russian president affirmed on Thursday that Slovakia had offered to be a “platform” for such discussions, during a visit to Russia by Prime Minister Robert Fico on December 22.

This visit by a European leader to the Russian capital, a very rare step, went against the policy of isolation of Vladimir Putin applied by the West, which is trying to present a united front in its support for kyiv.