Ukraine has captured a North Korean soldier, according to South Korean intelligence.
According to the National Intelligence Service, the soldier died as a result of his injuries.
It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed Russia was attempting to hide North Korean losses.
According to Yonhap news agency, a North Korean soldier captured by Ukrainian forces died as a result of his injuries.
The NIS had previously confirmed reports that Ukraine had detained an injured North Korean soldier.
“Through real-time information sharing with a friendly nation’s intelligence organization, (we) confirmed the capture of a wounded North Korean soldier and plans to thoroughly examine the subsequent development,” the National Intelligence Service (NIS) announced.
The incident was the first reported instance of a North Korean combatant being apprehended alive during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The soldier was reportedly apprehended on December 26 in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine launched its offensive in August.
It follows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement earlier this month that Russia was attempting to “conceal losses” of North Korean troops fighting against Ukraine.
Zelenskyy claimed on X that Russian soldiers are attempting to burn the faces of North Korean soldiers killed in battle. He shared a video of the alleged act.
“There is absolutely no reason for North Koreans to fight and die for Putin. “And even if they do, Russia will only humiliate them,” he added. “This madness must be stopped—stoped by a reliable and durable peace, as well as Russia’s accountability for this cynical war.”
Pyongyang reportedly began sending troops to Russia in October, and up to 11,000 are believed to have arrived in Kursk thus far.
North Korea’s elite “Storm” Corps is said to be leading the fighting in the region.
The NIS reported that more than 100 “Storm” troops had been killed and 1,000 more injured in their first battles for Russia.
The agency reportedly told lawmakers earlier this month that Pyongyang’s elite troops, who are believed to be the best-trained and most heavily indoctrinated, are unprepared for drone attacks and the local terrain.
Zelenskyy stated in December that preliminary estimates indicated that over 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or injured in Russia’s Kursk region.
