‘North Korean soldiers captured in Ukraine have no desire to defect’

Ukrainian servicemen check a road in the Donetsk region. Pic/AFP

South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers on Monday that two North Korean soldiers who were captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting alongside Russian forces in Russia's Kursk border region haven't expressed a desire to seek asylum in South Korea.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the social media platform X that he's willing to hand over the soldiers to North Korea if the country's authoritarian leader, Kim Jong Un, arranges for an exchange with Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia. Zelensky added that "there may be other options" for North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return home, and a video released by his government indicated that at least one of the captured soldiers expressed a desire to remain in Ukraine.

In a closed-door briefing at South Korea's National Assembly, the National Intelligence Service confirmed its participation in the questioning of the North Korean soldiers by Ukrainian authorities. The agency said the soldiers haven't expressed a request to resettle in South Korea, according to two lawmakers who attended the meeting.

The agency said it was willing to discuss the matter with Ukraine if the soldiers ask to go to South Korea.

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