The interrogated prisoners of war have also given some information to the Security Service of Ukraine. One said he thought he was sent to Russia for training, not for war.
Ukraine has slowly begun to receive interesting information about North Korean soldiers. Information has been obtained both from prisoners of war taken by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of Russia and from materials collected at the front.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, capturing North Korean soldiers alive has been made as difficult as possible. The wounded either kill themselves or someone fighting next to them does it, officials have said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on Saturday that Ukraine has finally been able to interrogate two North Korean soldiers captured wounded in the Kursk region. According to Zelensky, the wounded had received hospital treatment in Kyiv.
Ukraine did not provide evidence that the prisoners were North Korean, and the claims could not be verified.
Later, however, South Korea’s intelligence service also confirmed that Ukraine has captured two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region.
According to a South Korean defense expert who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, less than a third of North Korean soldiers are already at the front in Russia, and others are still being trained.
The prisoner of war told about the losses
Ukraine hopes to get information from the soldiers on the war front and, in general, evidence of North Korea’s participation in the war and the plans of North Korea and Russia.
According to the Security Service of Ukraine, the prisoners of war said they were experienced soldiers. According to his story, one of the prisoners was sent to Russia for training, not to fight.
According to South Korea’s intelligence service, one of the soldiers revealed during interrogation that he received training from the Russian army after arriving in the country in November.
– At first, he believed that he was sent to training, but he realized after arriving in Russia that he had been sent to the front, the intelligence service says.
The POW also said that North Korean forces had suffered significant losses during the fighting.
Zelenskyi has said earlier this week that around 4,000 North Koreans have either been killed or wounded at the front.
The leadership of the South Korean armed forces has estimated that North Korea would also prepare to send additional troops and weapons to Russia.
South Korea’s armed forces believe that North Korea is trying to improve its military capabilities by giving its soldiers combat experience in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
A soldier’s diary reveals tactics
According to the American Wall Street Journal, the diary of a North Korean soldier who died on the front has revealed what kind of tactics they use on the front in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Ukrainian special forces recently published excerpts from the diary.
According to the newspaper, the soldiers have been advised, among other things, to act as bait to attract the drones, so that one of the soldiers stands motionless in a visible place while the hidden surrounding soldiers try to shoot down the drone.
According to the second instruction, the soldiers should run under artillery fire towards the previous hit point, because according to the marking, there is almost no probability that the same point will be hit twice.
To ensure the authenticity of the diary, experts from various fields have examined the language used in it, the writing style and the DNA tests taken from the soldier, the newspaper says.
According to the Ukrainians, the author of the diary and two other soldiers were killed in a firefight on December 21 near the village of Pogrebk in the Kursk region.
Kudos to the leader
The pages of the diary have also transmitted traces of the intense brainwashing of North Korea’s totalitarian system, the Wall Street Journal says.
– Without sparing my life, I fulfill the commander-in-chief’s orders without hesitation. I show the world Kim Jong-un the courage and self-sacrifice of the special forces, the diary reads.
On the other hand, a soldier who defected from North Korea five years ago spoke to the newspaper Ryu Seong-hyeon has said that soldiers write such entries in their diaries also in the hope of being honored if they die in battle.
The fallen soldier had also written that he misses his homeland and the “warm embrace” of his beloved father and mother.
The name and identity of the author is clear, but in addition to the North Korean passport, the soldiers also found fake IDs, which were apparently given to them to cover up the presence of North Korean soldiers.
At no point have North Korea or Russia confirmed the Ukrainians’ story that up to 12,000 soldiers sent by North Korea would fight in the Kursk area.
Source: AFP