North Korean soldiers committing suicide via self-detonating is posing a new threat against Ukrainian troops on the battlefield, a defector has claimed.
Western figures estimate more than 11,000 North Korean troops flooded into Ukraine to act as cannon fodder and assist Russian troops gain as much territory as possible ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump as US President next week. Since they entered the war last year, Ukrainian officials estimate 3,000 have been killed.
Evidence has been collected from the battlefield that suggests North Korean soldiers have committed suicide to avoid capture by blowing themselves up. In one account described by Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, one North Korean soldier was found alive but that he blew himself up as soldiers approached.
“Self-detonation and suicides,” Kim, a 32-year-old former North Korean soldier said. “That’s the reality about North Korea.”
Kim defected to the South in 2022 and asked to be only identifiable by his surname over fears his family that remains in North Korea would be targeted. According to The Independent, he continued: “These soldiers who left home for a fight there have been brainwashed and are truly ready to sacrifice themselves for Kim Jong-un.”
Kim, who works for the South Korea-based human rights group NK Imprisonment Victims’ Family Association, said he was a part of the North’s military for about seven years and mainly worked on construction projects in a bid to earn foreign currency for the country’s dictator Kim Jong-un.
Both the Kremlin and Pyongyang have denied reports that North Korean soldiers are currently deployed to fight against Ukrainian forces. But in October Russian President Vladimir Putin did not deny that North Korean soldiers were deployed against Ukraine.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky previously offered to swap North Korean soldiers in exchange for his countrymen held in Russia. The president said on X/Twitter: “Ukraine is ready to hand over Kim Jong Un’s soldiers to him if he can organise their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia.”
He then vowed to capture more North Korean soldiers, adding: “In addition to the first captured soldiers from North Korea, there will undoubtedly be more. It’s only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others.
“There should be no doubt left in the world that the Russian army is dependent on military assistance from North Korea.”
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