KIEV/WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – Because of the use of North Korean soldiers in Russia’s war against Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling on China to influence North Korea. “The Korean people should not lose their people in the fighting in Europe. And this can be influenced, among other things, by Korea’s neighbors, including China,” Zelensky said in his evening video message. “If China is serious about its declarations that the war should not be expanded, it must exert appropriate influence on Pyongyang.” Beijing is the isolated communist country’s closest ally.
Moscow is primarily using the North Koreans in the attempted recapture of the Russian Kursk region, Zelensky said in Kiev. They suffered heavy losses there. “We see that the Russian military and North Korean superiors are not at all interested in the survival of these Koreans.”
The attackers are doing everything they can to ensure that the North Koreans do not fall into Ukrainian captivity. Zelensky claimed that they were more likely to be killed by their own people. This representation cannot be verified.
After there had initially been reports of a captured North Korean soldier, Zelensky now spoke of several soldiers. They died from their injuries.
USA: North Koreans attack near Kursk
The US government is also observing that the North Koreans are now being deployed in large numbers near Kursk. It is assumed that the soldiers there are carrying out massive “infantry attacks against Ukrainian positions,” said National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby.
However, he stressed that the tactic of “waves” of unprotected attacks on foot had proven ineffective. It led to significant losses among North Korean soldiers. According to US estimates, more than 1,000 soldiers were killed or wounded in the last week alone. Kirby said there were reports that North Korean soldiers were taking their own lives rather than surrendering to the Ukrainians – “probably out of fear of reprisals against their families in North Korea if they were captured,” he added.
North Korea has reportedly sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to support Moscow in its fight against Ukraine./fko/DP/he