# Ukraine confronts Seoul over the fate of North Korean prisoners from the Donbas > On July 1, 2026, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met his South Korean counterpart Cho Hyun in Seoul, a trip that shows - Author: Maxime Marquette - Publisher: MadMax (https://mad-max.co) - Section: Editorial - Published: 2026-07-05 - Canonical URL: https://mad-max.co/en/article/l-ukraine-denonce-a-seoul-le-sort-des-prisonniers-nord-coreens-du-donbass ## Introduction: when two distant fronts converge in **Seoul** ### A diplomatic meeting that says a lot about this globalized **war** On **July 1, 2026**, Ukrainian Foreign Minister **Andrii Sybiha** met his South Korean counterpart **Cho Hyun** in **Seoul**, a trip that shows how far the **war** in **Ukraine** has stopped being a regional conflict and become a truly global affair, reaching all the way to the Korean peninsula, according to **Al Jazeera** coverage published on **July 1, 2026**. At the heart of this meeting: the fate of **North Korean prisoners of war**, captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting alongside the Russian army in the **Donbas** region and **Kursk** oblast, a situation that would have seemed implausible to anyone just three years ago. ### Why this issue goes beyond a simple humanitarian question This isn't just a matter of international humanitarian law. It's a brutal indicator of the scale of the **alliance** between **Pyongyang** and **Moscow**, and of how **North Korea** sacrifices its own **soldiers** on a front that isn't even its own, in a war of Russian aggression against **Ukraine**. *I find it deeply telling that it's in Seoul, not **Pyongyang**, that **Kyiv** must plead its case for these North Korean prisoners. That says everything about the nature of a regime that sent these men to die far from home without even acknowledging their existence.* ## Two **soldiers** who want one simple thing: freedom ### The wish to **defect**, a powerful political signal According to reports, **two North Korean soldiers** captured in 2025 have explicitly expressed a wish to **defect** to **South Korea** rather than be returned to **North Korea**, where their fate as former **prisoners of war** abroad would be uncertain at best, and dangerous at worst. This individual choice, however modest in number, sends a resounding political signal: even soldiers trained and indoctrinated by one of the most closed regimes on earth can, once confronted with reality on the ground, choose freedom over returning to a system that sent them to fight without their genuine consent. ### Seoul ready to take them in, a clear legal position **South Korea** constitutionally regards all North Koreans as South Korean citizens by right, a position that legally simplifies the eventual reception of these prisoners should they confirm their wish to go South rather than return North. **Kyiv** and Seoul have already reached what diplomats describe as an **agreement in principle** on the question of repatriation, an encouraging first step even though the concrete details still need to be finalized between the two capitals. *This agreement in principle between Kyiv and Seoul is a small diplomatic miracle worth celebrating. It proves that even in the middle of a brutal war, it remains possible to build humane, concrete solutions for individuals caught in the grip of forces far larger than themselves.* ## Kursk, the forgotten battlefield where North Korean troops bleed ### Massive losses according to Ukrainian military intelligence According to estimates from Ukraine's **main intelligence directorate**, the **HUR**, North Korean troops deployed in Russia's **Kursk** oblast have suffered more than **7,000 casualties** between 2024 and 2025, a figure higher than earlier South Korean and British estimates that put the total at around **6,000 casualties**, according to the **Kyiv Independent**. This toll, whichever estimate is used, illustrates the appalling human price paid by young North Korean soldiers sent to fight in a foreign war, without experience of modern high-intensity combat and often used as cannon fodder by Russian command. ### A contingent that remains massive despite the losses According to South Korean estimates relayed by the **Yonhap** news agency, roughly **11,000 North Korean soldiers** were still present in **Kursk** oblast at the start of 2026, suggesting **Pyongyang** keeps feeding this front with fresh troops despite the already known scale of casualties suffered by its own forces. This persistence of North Korean commitment, despite considerable losses, shows the depth of the military **alliance** sealed between **Kim Jong Un** and **Vladimir Putin**, an alliance apparently willing to sacrifice thousands of lives to cement this strategic partnership. *Seven thousand dead, maybe more, for a war that has nothing to do with **North Korea**'s own security. That's the cynical price **Kim Jong Un** is willing to pay in human lives to get technological and economic support from **Moscow** in return.* ## A mutual defense pact with very concrete consequences ### The comprehensive strategic partnership treaty, a historic turning point The deployment of North Korean troops in **Russia** stems directly from the **Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty** signed between **Moscow** and **Pyongyang**, a text that includes a mutual defense clause reminiscent of Cold War alliances, but applied here very concretely on Ukrainian soil. This treaty represents a major shift in the regional geopolitical balance, transforming North Korea from a largely isolated pariah state into an active military partner directly engaged in the largest European conflict since World War II. ### North Korean weapons directly feeding the Russian war effort Beyond sending troops, **Russia** now receives massive shipments of North Korean **munitions**, notably **122mm** and **152mm** caliber shells, as well as ballistic missiles, logistical support that lets **Moscow** partially offset the struggles of its own defense industrial base, strained by Western **sanctions**. This growing **military cooperation**, economic and technological, between the two regimes legitimately worries Western chancelleries, who see it as the consolidation of an increasingly coordinated **authoritarian** axis against Ukraine and its Western backers. *Every North Korean shell that lands on a Ukrainian city is concrete proof that this war no longer pits Ukraine against **Russia** alone, but the entire West against an increasingly welded **authoritarian** axis linking Moscow, Pyongyang and, behind the scenes, Beijing.* ## Beijing, an interested spectator of this Russian-Korean rapprochement ### **Xi Jinping** in Pyongyang, a visit that is anything but trivial Chinese President **Xi Jinping** traveled to **Pyongyang** on **June 8 and 9, 2026**, his first visit to the North Korean capital in roughly seven years, a trip underscoring the strategic importance Beijing places on its relations with its North Korean neighbor, even as the latter deepens its military alliance with Russia. This visit comes at a particularly sensitive moment, as China seeks to maintain its influence over Pyongyang without appearing directly involved in North Korean military support for Russia's war against Ukraine, an increasingly difficult balancing act to maintain. ### North Korea's near-total economic dependence on China **China** accounts for roughly **98%** of **North Korea**'s total foreign trade according to 2024 data, an almost absolute economic dependence that gives Beijing considerable leverage over Pyongyang's strategic decisions, including whether to continue its military involvement alongside Russia. This Chinese influence over North Korea puts Beijing in an ambiguous position: officially neutral on the war in Ukraine, yet objectively holding the means to influence, if it genuinely wished to, the behavior of one of Russia's main direct military backers on the ground. *Beijing is playing a double game the West should stop politely tolerating. You cannot claim neutrality on Ukraine while retaining total economic leverage over a country sending thousands of soldiers to die for the Russian war effort.* ## What this **diplomacy** reveals about democratic **solidarity** ### Kyiv and Seoul, two **democracies** facing authoritarian neighbors This emerging cooperation between **Ukraine** and **South Korea** on the question of North Korean **prisoners of war** illustrates a broader convergence of interests between two **democracies** each confronting, in its own way, an aggressive authoritarian neighbor: Russia and North Korea respectively. This **solidarity**, still modest diplomatically, could deepen in the months ahead, especially if Seoul decided to increase its material support for the Ukrainian defense effort, an option regularly floated but so far limited by South Korean **diplomacy**'s traditional caution. ### A precedent that could inspire other humanitarian efforts Handling this North Korean prisoner issue could set a useful precedent for other humanitarian questions tied to this conflict, notably the fate of Russian soldiers themselves captured by Ukraine, or Ukrainian civilians forcibly deported to Russia, one of the most painful files of this war. This methodical, transparent approach to the North Korean prisoner-of-war question stands in sharp contrast to the total opacity that usually surrounds the fate of soldiers captured in other conflicts involving closed authoritarian regimes. *I see in this emerging cooperation between Kyiv and Seoul an encouraging example of what democratic diplomacy grounded in shared values can achieve, even on an issue as complex as prisoners of war from a regime as closed as North Korea.* ## Western chancelleries' cautious but real reaction ### Washington and Brussels watching closely The **United States** and the **European Union** are closely following this rapprochement between **Moscow** and **Pyongyang**, aware that every North Korean soldier committed to the front and every shipment of **munitions** delivered to Russia directly extends **Vladimir Putin**'s ability to continue his aggression against **Ukraine** despite Western **sanctions**. Several Western capitals have already tightened targeted sanctions against weapons transfer networks between **North Korea** and **Russia**, even though the real effectiveness of these measures remains limited against the two regimes' declared determination to sustain this **military cooperation**. ### **South Korea**, a cautious but increasingly engaged ally Seoul, historically cautious on issues tied to the war in Ukraine for fear of North Korean retaliation, appears to be gradually adopting a bolder stance, as shown by this diplomatic meeting with **Kyiv** on the sensitive question of prisoners of war. This South Korean shift could, in time, open the door to more direct material support for the Ukrainian defense effort, a scenario Pyongyang and Moscow would no doubt watch with growing concern. *I welcome this South Korean caution finally starting to give way to a firmer stance. It's about time Seoul understood that its own security against Pyongyang is directly tied to the outcome of the war in Ukraine.* ## The precedent this case sets for other captured soldiers ### Russian prisoners, an equally sensitive file **Ukraine**'s handling of the **North Korean** prisoner file runs parallel to its management, far larger in number, of **Russian prisoners of war** held by Kyiv, a file negotiated within the broader framework of regular prisoner exchanges between the two warring countries since 2022. The relative transparency Ukraine shows on the North Korean soldiers' case contrasts with **Moscow**'s usual opacity about the fate of its own prisoners, a contrast that strengthens Kyiv's moral standing with its international partners. ### A test for contemporary international humanitarian law This case also serves as an interesting test for contemporary **international humanitarian law**, confronted with an unprecedented situation: prisoners of war from a third country, North Korea, technically not an official party to the conflict, yet whose troops actively fight alongside one of the belligerents. How this case is resolved could set an important legal precedent for future conflicts involving foreign auxiliary forces, an increasingly frequent phenomenon in contemporary warfare. *This North Korean prisoner file could become a textbook case in international law. I sincerely hope Kyiv will keep handling this issue with the same transparency, even though it brings no immediate military advantage.* ## Conclusion: an increasingly visible authoritarian alliance ### What this meeting in Seoul confirms about the ongoing war The meeting between **Andrii Sybiha** and **Cho Hyun** in Seoul confirms, if confirmation were still needed, that the war in Ukraine now unfolds within a far broader geopolitical framework than a simple territorial conflict between two neighboring countries. It pits Ukraine and its Western backers against an increasingly coordinated authoritarian axis linking Russia, North Korea and, more discreetly but very much present, China. The fate of these North Korean prisoners, however marginal it may seem against the scale of the conflict, reveals the human reality of this alliance: thousands of young soldiers sacrificed far from home, in a war that has nothing to do with them, serving a pact between dictators. ### The urgency of sustaining Western pressure on this axis Faced with this growing coordination between authoritarian regimes, the West can no longer afford to treat these developments as isolated incidents. Every North Korean soldier sent to fight in Russia, every shell delivered to Moscow by Pyongyang, every visit by **Xi Jinping** to Pyongyang must be understood as part of the same strategy hostile to Western democratic interests and to Ukrainian sovereignty. *I'll close with a simple conviction: as long as the West treats these developments as fragmented incidents rather than pieces of the same authoritarian puzzle, coordination between Moscow, Pyongyang and Beijing will keep advancing without meeting sufficient resistance.* **By Maxime Marquette, columnist** ## Columnist's transparency note ### Editorial stance I am not a journalist but a **columnist and analyst**. My expertise lies in observing and analysing the geopolitical, economic and strategic dynamics that shape our world. My work is to take political strategies apart, to understand global economic movements, to put the decisions of international actors in context and to offer analytical perspectives on the changes that are redefining our societies. I do not claim the cold objectivity of traditional journalism, which stops at reporting facts. **I claim analytical clarity**, rigorous interpretation and a deep understanding of the complex issues that concern us all. My role is to give meaning to the facts, to place them in their historical and strategic context, and to offer a critical reading of events. ### Method and sources This text keeps the basic distinction between **verified facts and interpretive analysis**. The rule never changes: a factual claim is published only when a verifiable source supports it, and the sources this article actually used are listed under **Sources**, never here. **Primary source families** used by the publication, when the story has them: official statements from governments and international institutions, public statements by political leaders, reports from intergovernmental organisations, dispatches from recognised international news agencies. **Secondary source families**: specialised publications, internationally recognised news media, analyses from established research institutions, reports from industry organisations. When an article cites statistical, economic or geopolitical data, it comes from the institutions that produce it (intergovernmental organisations, central banks, national statistics offices), and the exact institution is named under **Sources**. ### Nature of the analysis The analyses, interpretations and perspectives in the analytical sections of this article are a **critical, contextual synthesis** based on the information available, the trends observed and the expert comments cited in the sources consulted. My role is to interpret these facts, to set them in the context of today's geopolitical and economic dynamics, and to give them a coherent meaning within the larger story of the changes shaping our time. These analyses reflect expertise built through continuous observation of international affairs and an understanding of the strategic mechanisms that drive global actors. This article describes a documented state of affairs on its publication date, not a prediction: later developments may shift its outlook. No update is promised in advance; when an article is corrected or completed, the change is dated in the text. ## Sources ### Primary sources - Al Jazeera, North Korea's Kim hails unshakeable will to develop ties with China's Xi — July 1, 2026 ### Secondary sources - The Kyiv Independent, North Korean troops took over 7,000 casualties in Russia's Kursk Oblast, HUR claims - Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, official portal — accessed July 2026 - Ukrainska Pravda, English edition — ongoing coverage of the war - United24 Media, official Ukrainian news — July 2026 - Military Times, coverage of military developments in Eastern Europe — 2026 --- Source: Maxime Marquette, MadMax. When citing, name the author and link https://mad-max.co/en/article/l-ukraine-denonce-a-seoul-le-sort-des-prisonniers-nord-coreens-du-donbass