Why North Korean POWs are rare
As attention focuses on the fate of the two North Korean prisoners of war (POWs) held in Ukraine, questions arise over why there are so few captives from the reclusive state. Pyongyang sent around 11,000 soldiers to fight with Russian forces in the invasion of Ukraine in late 2024. At least 6,000 of them reportedly died not long after they began fighting in Russia's Kursk region in December 2024, as North Korean soldiers were wholly unprepared for Ukrainian drones, according to Ukrainian military and intelligence officials. Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) stated that North Korean troops were stationed in Kursk and continued to launch attacks on the Ukrainian border as of last month. The agency also said the North Korean soldiers are rotated regularly and around 3,000 have returned to North Korea to pass on skills they acquired on the battlefield. Currently, there are only two known North Korean POWs. In January 2025, Ukrainian authorities unveiled a video of the two captives, and South Korean broadcaster MBC's "PD Notebook" was able to interview them for a program that aire
