Blown up by ‘devil drones’, led by a translation app and choosing death over capture, two elite soldiers give the first details of their war in Ukraine
Richard Lloyd Parry
February 20, 2025
The Times
Private Ri had the kind of dreams common to young men from educated families — to go to university, study and support his sick parents. Instead, he spent a decade as a conscript of the North Korean People’s Army. Even as a skilled sniper in an elite unit, he endured extreme cold and harsh discipline. In ten years he did not once see his parents face to face. And, months from being discharged, he found himself sent to a place of unimaginable hardship — the front lines of Kursk, fighting alongside Russian soldiers against Ukrainian forces.
He saw his comrades blown apart around him, suffered a grave injury himself and was taken prisoner. Now, along with another North Korean soldier, he has spoken to a journalist for the first time about the losses suffered by the North Korean units, the lies told by their commanders and his wish to defect to South Korea.
Their testimony also calls into question claims about the North Korean forces made by the Ukrainian and South Korean authorities. “I’m the only one left [alive from my unit],” he told a South Korean newspaper, The Chosun Ilbo. “It was my first time experiencing real combat. When I saw the bodies of my comrades, a lot of thoughts went through my head. Some blew themselves up [to avoid capture], leaving nothing but headless or half-torn bodies. In the dead of winter, with snow falling like this, they lay there and the smell of blood still lingers with me.”
Ri, 26, and another soldier named Baek, 21, whose full names have not been disclosed, were captured on January 9, the first two North Korean prisoners of war to survive — an earlier captive died soon after being taken hostage last year. Their testimony provides valuable insights into the morale and tactics of the North Korean soldiers sent to support Russia in its efforts to drive Ukrainian forces out of Kursk.
They were members of the Korean People’s Army Special Operations Force (KPASOF), affiliated with the Reconnaissance General Bureau, the North Korean intelligence agency responsible for espionage overseas — not, as early reports had it, with the North Korean XI Army Corps, known as the Storm Corps.
Ri’s family are from the capital, Pyongyang, many of whose residents are members of the elite, but Ri spoke of a harsh family life. “My father’s side of the family is full of scientists,” he said. “I wanted to study, but my family struggled a lot. We were in such poor conditions, always in financial hardship. And after joining the military, I endured both physical and mental trauma — so many terrible experiences, facing all sorts of extreme situations. I’ve come so close to death so many times. And now, having barely survived, I’m a prisoner.” He added: “I just want to live up to my parents’ expectations and fulfill my dream. I want to see it blossom. I’m still young.”
Ri confirmed that even his parents did not know he had been sent on the deployment which was kept secret because “it could damage North Korea’s foreign relations”. There may be other reasons for hiding the truth, for example a wish to avoid negative reactions back home. Ri said that most of his comrades were the only sons in their family, making the grief and burden of their loss all the greater. He said that they had little direct contact with Russian soldiers, communicating by smartphone translation apps, a technology he had never seen before. He said that the cold in Kursk was nothing compared to winter conditions in northern North Korea, where “urine would freeze the moment it hit the ground.”
He revealed that officers from the Ministry of State Security attached to each unit told them falsely that the drone operators on the Ukrainian side were South Korean, apparently to motivate them in the fight.
Their training in Vladivostok “wasn’t just about physical endurance. It was ideological. Mountain marches, endurance drills, shooting practice, all of it fuelled by sheer willpower. Dropping out was considered disgraceful so we trained like our lives depended on it.”
Ri was hit by a bullet fired by a drone that injured his arm and his jaw. All the soldiers with him were killed by what they called a “devil drone”. “The bullet passed through my arm, shattered the bone, and then hit my jaw, shattering it completely,” he said, although since being treated by his captors his condition has improved and he can now speak, albeit with difficulty.
His comrade Baek contradicted claims by the Ukrainian military that North Korean troops were used as “human bait” to lure out drones to shoot them down. “That’s the first I’ve heard of it,” he said.
Ri confirmed that the North Koreans were encouraged to kill themselves rather than be captured. “If I had a grenade, maybe I would have tried to take my own life,” he said. “In our army, being captured is seen as betrayal.”
Baek had his hands bandaged after capture, not because of injuries but to prevent him from harming himself.
Baek said that he wanted to go back to North Korea but Ri said that he had “made up my mind about 80 per cent” to defect to South Korea. “Almost everyone I came with has been killed,” he said. “All the men who came with me are gone. In my unit, all my comrades have died. There’s no one left. Most of us are only children. How must their parents feel?”