South Korea prepared to accept North Korean POW wishing to defect, media reports
Pravda Ukraine
South Korea plans to hold consultations with Ukraine regarding the potential transfer of North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine, should they agree to defect.
Source: South Korean news agency Yonhap, citing Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-wong
Quote: “Since North Korean soldiers are considered our citizens under the Constitution, [the government – ed.] plans to negotiate with Ukraine if they request defection to South Korea.”
Details: South Korea’s Constitution defines the entire Korean Peninsula as its territory, effectively recognising all peninsula residents as its citizens. However, the ministry spokesperson noted that neither of the two captured soldiers has expressed intent to defect to South Korea.
Background:
- On 11 January, it was reported that Ukrainian forces had captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
- Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SOF) have released a video showing their operatives capturing and transporting a North Korean soldier, an event previously reported by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Another captured North Korean soldier has also been shown in a video posted by Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces.
- A fake military ID discovered on a captured North Korean soldier in Kursk Oblast was issued in the name of a real person from the Russian republic of Tyva (Tuva).
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