Seoul confirms Ukraine captured two North Korean soldiers

Ukraine, the United States and South Korea have accused nuclear-armed North Korea of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help bolster Russian forces.

Seoul's National Intelligence Service (NIS) told AFP it has "confirmed that the Ukrainian military captured two North Korean soldiers on January 9 in the Kursk battlefield in Russia".

On Saturday, Ukrainian intelligence (SBU) released a video showing the two men in hospital bunks, one with bandaged hands and the other with a bandaged jaw.

A doctor at the detention centre said the first man also had a broken leg.

The SBU said the men had told interrogators they were experienced army soldiers, and one said he was sent to Russia for training, not fighting.

But Kyiv did not present direct evidence that the captured men were North Korean and AFP was unable to independently verify their nationalities.

South Korea's confirmation added weight to Kyiv's account.

The NIS similarly said one of the captured soldiers revealed during his interrogation that he received military training from Russian forces after arriving there in November.

"He initially believed he was being sent for training, realising upon arrival in Russia that he had been deployed," the NIS said.

The soldier said North Korean forces had experienced "significant losses during battle".

According to Seoul's intelligence agency, one of the men "went without food or water for four to five days before being captured".

The NIS said it would continue to work with the SBU to share information on North Korean fighters in Ukraine.

Neither Russia nor North Korea has reacted to the intelligence accounts.

Closer cooperation

Russia and North Korea have boosted their military ties since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, though neither has confirmed that Pyongyang's forces are fighting for Moscow.

On a visit to Seoul this month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington believed Russia was expanding space cooperation with North Korea in exchange for its troop contribution in fighting Ukraine.

"The DPRK is already receiving Russian military equipment and training. Now we have reason to believe that Moscow intends to share advanced space and satellite technology with Pyongyang," Blinken told a news conference in Seoul, using the North's official name.

Repeating an assertion recently made by the US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Blinken said the US also believed that Russia "may be close" to formally accepting North Korea's status as a nuclear power.

The assertion came as North Korea test-fired a new hypersonic missile while Blinken was visiting the US ally.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last month that nearly 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been "killed or wounded" fighting for Russia, while Seoul put the figure at 1,000.

The NIS told the country's lawmakers last month that "several North Korean casualties" had already been attributed to Ukrainian missile and drone attacks as well as training accidents, with the highest ranking "at least at the level of a general".

Due to losses among its forces, North Korea is preparing for additional deployment to Ukraine, according to Seoul's military.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said last month that Pyongyang is reportedly "preparing for the rotation or additional deployment of soldiers" to aid Russia's war effort.

Pyongyang and Moscow have deepened political, military and cultural ties since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In a New Year's letter, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hailed Russian President Vladimir Putin and made a possible reference to the war in Ukraine.

He said 2025 would be the year "when the Russian army and people defeat neo-Nazism and achieve a great victory".