This undated photo, released in a Telegram post by Vladimir Solovyov, a presenter for Russian state television, shows North Korean soldiers undergoing combat training. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 29 (Korea Bizwire) – North Korea’s acknowledgment of its troop dispatch to Russia to support its war in Ukraine will not affect South Korea’s efforts to accept North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine if they wish to defect to the South, a foreign ministry official said Tuesday.
Two North Korean soldiers have been held by Ukrainian forces since January, after they were captured during combat in Russia’s western Kursk border region. One of them has expressed in media interviews an intention to defect to the South.
The future of their fate has drawn attention as Russia and North Korea confirmed this week North Korean troops have been fighting alongside Moscow in the war against Kyiv.
“Regardless of North Korea’s admission of troop deployment, North Korean soldiers detained by Ukraine are considered prisoners of war and must continue to be protected accordingly,” a ministry official told reporters.
“And under the Geneva Conventions and international law and practices, they must not be repatriated to any place where they could face persecution,” the official said.
Some raise the view that North Korea, now having confirmed the troop dispatch, could strongly call for their repatriation.
“We will provide necessary protection and support … should they request to come to South Korea,” ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said in a press briefing.
“We have already conveyed this position to the Ukrainian authorities and will continue necessary consultations,” Lee said.
(Yonhap)
