‘I Only Know South Korea Has Fewer Mountains’ – Testimony from Captured Pyongyang POW

One of the North Korean prisoners of war (POWs) shared some very revealing details about his background in an interview published by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday morning. 

The interview, which showed the young soldier lying under a blanket recovering from a wound received in action, sheds light on the logistics of North Korean integration into the Russian military, the journey of the North Korean soldier to the warzone, and his knowledge of the world behind Pyongyang’s Iron Curtain. 

Military background 

In the video, the North Korean soldier said he was conscripted into the military after graduating from high school at the age of 17, where he served in a reconnaissance battalion for the whole of his service to date. He did not specify the details of his unit. 

In an earlier interview, he said he was born in 2005 and joined the military in 2021 as a rifleman. 

When captured he was found to be in possession of a Russian-issued military identity card, which confirmed earlier reports from South Korea that Moscow had issued fake IDs to DPRK troops to help conceal their identities and, subsequently, Pyongyang’s involvement. 

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He said he was issued the ID in the autumn of 2024, after he arrived in Russia. 

Journey to Russia 

The soldier confirmed to the interviewer that he had arrived in Russia from North Korea by ferry. He said more than 100 North Korean troops were on board the vessel, which he identified as a Russian civilian cargo ship, not a military one. He said there was no cargo on board, just people. He did not give details of the locations he visited. 

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said 1,500 North Korean special forces were transported by “four landing ships and three escort ships belonging to the Russian Pacific Fleet” between Oct. 8 and Oct. 13, citing satellite imagery. The report made no mention of civilian ferries. 

After landing in Russia, he and the troops from the ferry were moved by train, with six tables and beds shared between the passengers. It can be assumed that if the troops departed Russia’s Far Eastern coast at the nearest point to North Korea, the rail journey to the Kursk region, where he and other DPRK troops have been deployed, would take at least seven non-stop days. 

When questioned by the interrogator he added that his mother is unaware of his whereabouts. 

Fighting against Ukraine

When asked if he would “voluntarily wish to give truthful testimony about the circumstances of [his] participation in hostilities against Ukraine,” the soldier maintained his innocence and said he was unaware that he was being sent to fight against Ukraine. 

In a previous interview, he said he had only been informed that he would be participating in training exercises.  

The interrogator asked if he received training in the use of Russian weapons, to which the soldier said some did, but not him. 

“​​There were a few soldiers from North Korea who were trained to use heavy Russian equipment, but I personally did not undergo such training,” the soldier said. He had claimed in an earlier interview that he had only received one week of integration training with Russian military personnel.  

Asked about the North Korean casualties he had witnessed, including the circumstances, such as the numbers and the types of weapons used, the soldier said there were simply too many to count once the fighting started for him on Jan. 3.  

“There were a lot of casualties when I was there alone, starting from the battle on Jan. 3. Overall, it’s hard to answer about such large-scale numbers,” he said. 

North Korean troops began to reinforce Russian units as Moscow began its attempt to retake the areas of the Kursk region under Ukrainian control in late 2024. 

The NIS recently reported that approximately 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 2,700 injured in the conflict.

‘Not much’

When asked about his knowledge of the world beyond the North Korean border, the soldier simply answered, “not much.”

The interrogator then asked if the soldier knew anything about South Korea, to which the soldier replied, only after the video was temporarily cut off:

“I only know that South Korea has fewer mountains than North Korea.”