He Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has disclosed this Wednesday several intercepted conversations that, according to kyiv, demonstrate that North Korea already has hundreds of casualties –between dead and wounded– within the framework of its deployment in the Russian region of Kursk.
One of the calls supposedly corresponds to a conversation between a Russian soldier and his wife, a nurse in a hospital in the region of Moscow. The wife reveals the arrival at the center where she works of about 120 North Korean soldiers who would join another hundred from the previous day: “We already have more than 200. And how many more will there be?” he says.
In another call, he states that The North Korean military is receiving better treatment than the Russians and wonders if they are now the “elite” of the Armed Forcesalways according to the extracts released by the SBU, which has an open case for the participation of North Korean forces in the conflict.
Until now, Ukrainian authorities had limited themselves to confirming a few dozen casualties, assuming that an undetermined number of North Korean soldiers had died. The United States Department of Defense has also confirmed deaths among these troops, although like kyiv it has not given exact details.
A senior Ukrainian military official confirmed this Tuesday that a couple hundred North Korean officers have already resulted injured or dead in the fighting against Ukraine, in the border town of Kursk. This is the first large-scale estimate since the United States and allies confirmed weeks ago that Kim Jong-un had sent a contingent of between 10,000 and 12,000 soldiers to Moscow to assist his Armed Forces on the front.
The official, according to several news agencies such as AP y AFPexplained that these losses account for the lack of preparation and experience of these soldiers, who in a few weeks have fallen to war.
The day before, in line with its statements, kyiv’s military intelligence agency had reported, for its part, that at least 30 fighters Pyongyang had been injured or killed over the weekend.
“On December 14 and 15, units of the army of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) suffered significant losses near the villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba and Martinovka, in the Kursk region of Russia. At least 30 soldiers were killed or wounded,” the GUR reported on its Telegram channel.
“North Korean mercenaries have already suffered heavy losses. “Ukrainian defenders firmly maintain the defense, destroying enemy personnel and equipment.”celebrated the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Army, Oleksander Sirski, while the leader of the body in charge of prisoners of war took the opportunity to make an offer to the combatants.
Ukraine invites the north korean soldiers who fight alongside the Russians to surrender to the troops of Kiev con Soviet aesthetic pamphlets and engraved messages in Korean that are broadcast from speakers mounted on drones, as the spokesman for the Ukrainian State body that deals with prisoners of war, Petro Yatsenko, explained to EFE.
“The content is sent to our units, who print it and send it behind enemy lines in the way they see fit,” said Yatsenko, who noted that the leaflets have been produced with aid from South Korean citizens and North Korean exiles They are knowledgeable about the psychology of that society and are usually placed rolled up inside ammunition pods so that they are scattered across the battlefield when the projectiles fall.
Language is not the only novelty of this tool to encourage desertion among the enemy. Ukrainian military intelligence addresses Russian soldiers and foreigners from other countries recruited to fight in the ranks of Moscow through Telegram messages.
But most likely the North Korean soldiers They do not have access to mobile phones or the slightest experience in using the internetYatsenko explained, which has led Ukraine to resort to archaic methods more typical of World War II to try to reach them.
The brochures are printed on two sides. In one of them, North Koreans are offered a series of instructions about what they should do to surrender and save their lives.
The first step is to drop the weapon, and then get a piece of cloth or white material which they have to raise with one of both hands when approaching the Ukrainian troops. The last step to be taken as prisoners and save their lives is to lie face down on the ground.
Each of the instructions is accompanied by a simple drawing that graphically supports the explanation.
“If we manage to save a single life, a single North Korean soldier to surrender, we will be satisfied”said Yatsenko, who also highlighted the great value of being able to obtain information about these fighters sent to fight Russia by one of the most secretive regimes in the world.
The other side of the pamphlets is dominated, like many public spaces in the country of origin of the audience to which they are directed, by an image of the founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the family dynasty that has ruled it since day one, Kim Il-sung.
A message written in Korean beneath the smiling portrait reminds the soldiers of one of the maxims bequeathed to them by the grandfather of their current leader, Kim Jong-un: that They should not die in the service of an imperialist poweras, in the eyes of Ukrainians, it is Russia.
A direct appeal bears on this argument in the other half of the pamphlet. “Comrade of the Korean People’s Army: You have been sent 7,000 kilometers away from home for the Russian imperialist interests. But your real obligation is to stay alive and take care of your family. Save your life!”
Finally, below this text the North Korean military is informed of the treatment they will receive as prisoners of war. “Three meals a day. Medical assistance. A comfortable living environment” and what may be even more important: the possibility of deciding between “returning home or staying and asking for political asylum.”
(With information from Europa Press and EFE)
