Link to article: https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-soldiers-capture-ukraine-russia-defect-141433c872649d55358748b179781758
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s forces have captured two North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian forces in Russia’s Kursk border region. “Our soldiers have captured North Korean soldiers in Kursk. These are two soldiers who, although wounded, survived, were taken to Kyiv, and are communicating” with Ukrainian security services, Zelenskyy said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. “If Kim Jong Un even remembers these citizens of his and is capable of organizing an exchange for our warriors being held in Russia, we are ready to transfer such soldiers. Undoubtedly there will be more POWs from North Korea,” Zelenskyy said in an address late Sunday. He said in a separate posting on the social media platform X that “there may be other options” for North Korean prisoners who don’t wish to go back. 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.
This article is important because it shows how North Korea sending their own soldiers may lead to problems. Seoul’s spy agency believes that about 300 North Korean soldiers have died and another 2,700 have been injured while fighting against Ukrainian forces. I find it interesting that the North Korean Soldiers have shown no desire to defect, and will most likely be sent back to North Korea in a prisoner exchange, if North Korea is willing to negotiate one.
This article relates to what we learned in class because it shows how powerful the idea of constructionism and shared identity is that these North Korean soldiers wish to return to North Korea even when they have the option to defect. I wonder if this is a widespread opinion in the North Korea military.