South Korea’s detective agency confirmed on Friday that an injured North Korean soldier who had been sent to help Russia’s war had been captured by Russian forces.
The man is reportedly the first Northern Vietnamese prisoner of war to be captured since December when Pyongyang sent troops to support Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
Following a pictures purportedly showing the wounded soldier, which was circulated on Telegram, the confirmation comes.
Moscow and Pyongyang have both confirmed nor denied their existence, but North Korea has more than 10,000 soldiers reportedly sent to assist Russia, according to Kyiv and Seoul.
Over 3, 000 North Korean soldiers have died or been injured in Kursk struggling, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, on Monday.
He added that the partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang heightens the “risk of destabilisation” around the Korean island.