Photo : Captured image from website of Ukrainian Project “I want to live”
Anchor: With more than three thousand North Korean troops believed to be in Russia, Ukraine’s military has released a Korean-language video appealing to North Koreans to surrender. The video, posted to Telegram and X on Wednesday, highlights the food and accommodations at a Ukrainian prisoner of war camp to entice potential captives.
Kim Bum-soo has more.
Report:
[Sound bite: Message to N. Korean soldiers (Ukrainian Project “I want to live” on X / Korean)]
“북한에서 새로 도착한 전쟁 포로를 수용하기 위해 가까운 장래에 전선의 여러 부문에서 포로가 된 최초의 북한 점령군이 이곳에도착할 것 입니다.”
In awkward Korean, possibly generated by automatic translation software, the narrator introduces a facility for North Korean prisoners of war.
As part of its surrender program, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency released a video message Wednesday promising clean, comfortable rooms for soldiers who surrender.
[Sound bite: Message to N. Korean soldiers (Project “I want to live” on X / Korean)]
“수용소의 전쟁포로들은 별도의 수면 공간을 갖춘 크고 따뜻하고 밝은 방에 수용됩니다. 수용소의전쟁포로들은 하루 세 끼의 식사를 받으며 식단에는 고기, 신선한 야채,빵이 포함됩니다.”
Showing full bowls of food, the video says prisoners get three meals a day including meat, fresh vegetables and bread, and urges North Korean soldiers not to “die senselessly on foreign soil.”
Previously, Ukraine said the North Korean troops might join the battle as early as Wednesday.
While Moscow denies getting soldiers from Pyongyang, the U.S. and NATO have confirmed that North Korean soldiers are already in Russia.
The South Korean state spy agency briefed the nation’s lawmakers Wednesday evening that the North’s XI Army Corps, an elite special forces unit also known as the “Storm Corps,” had been dispatched to Russia.
It said Russian military instructors found the soldiers mentally and physically competitive but not trained for modern warfare, which involves drones and other advanced technology.
According to the South Korean intelligence agency, some three thousand North Korean troops have begun training in Russia and an additional seven thousand are expected to join the war by December.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.