South Korea said today that North Korean soldiers are eligible to receive South Korean citizenship after a local newspaper published an interview with a North Korean soldier captured in Ukraine who is considering seeking asylum in Seoul, Agence France-Presse reports, BTA reports.
“North Korean soldiers are constitutionally considered our citizens“, commented a South Korean foreign ministry official in response to the published interview.
“Respecting individual wishes regarding the repatriation of prisoners is in line with international law“, the unnamed official said. He stressed that the government would provide the necessary protection and support for any North Korean soldier who decides to choose South Korea as his refuge.
The ministry specified that South Korea's position had been conveyed to the Ukrainian authorities and consultations with Kiev on this issue would continue.
The Seoul newspaper “Josun“ published an interview with a North Korean soldier who described the “brutal“ fighting on the front in Ukraine. Western intelligence reports the presence of several thousand North Korean soldiers sent to help the Russian army.
The captured soldier, referred to as I by the newspaper, is still in Ukraine in a secret detention center. In the interview, he said he was "80 percent certain" that he would apply for refugee status and go to South Korea.
South Korean and Western intelligence agencies estimate that more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers were sent to Russia last year to support the military operation in the Kursk region.
Yi, who is visibly injured, said that many of his compatriots had died in drone attacks and artillery shelling.
"Everyone who joined the army with me died," he said.
When asked whether North Korean soldiers were ordered to commit suicide to avoid capture, as Western intelligence agencies claim, he said yes.
"In our people's army, being captured is "It's tantamount to desertion. Some committed suicide to avoid capture. Maybe I would have done it too if I had a grenade with me," I admits.
Another North Korean soldier named Bek also participated in the interview. Both confirmed that they were stationed in the Kursk region last year.
Last month, Ukraine said it had interrogated two wounded North Korean soldiers after their capture and that they had provided "irrefutable evidence" of North Korean military participation in the war on the side of Russia.
Agence France-Presse requested an interview with the captured soldiers, but Ukrainian authorities did not respond to requests for comment.