According to information available to the intelligence service, North Korean soldiers from an elite unit have been ordered by commanders not to surrender under any circumstances and to commit suicide if there is no other way to avoid capture, Li said, adding that documents found with the dead soldiers show this.
The MP also said that one of the North Korean soldiers he was about to take prisoner shouted “General Kim Jong-un” and tried to detonate a grenade, but was shot dead.
South Korean intelligence has also indicated that North Korean soldiers lack understanding of modern warfare and are being used as cannon fodder by Russia.
Information available to Seoul indicates that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent more than 100,000 troops to help Russia in exchange for Russian help with North Korea’s weapons and satellite program.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced over the weekend that Kyiv had captured two North Korean soldiers, releasing a video showing the wounded soldiers being interrogated and hinting at the possibility of a prisoner exchange for Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russia.