"It's been over a year since Ukrainian forces captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk, but the fate of the two men still hangs in the balance as activists accuse the South Korean government of dragging its feet. The two have asked to relocate to South Korea. In the North, they could face punishment for letting themselves be taken alive. "I won't survive [going back]. Everyone else blew themselves up. I failed," one of the soldiers told South Korean newspaper Hankook Ilbo."
"The UN has also weighed in on the issue, with its special rapporteur on the North's human rights record stating earlier this month that Ukraine should follow international protocol and not send them to a place where they face being tortured. "I would be grateful of they would take me. If they don't there is nothing I can do," a soldier was quoted as saying by the newspaper."
""The regime told its soldiers to kill themselves if it appeared they were going to be captured in Ukraine," said Kim Eujin, who fled the North as a teenager in the 1990s. "These two men did not follow those orders and they did not die, even if they tried." "We do not know how the regime will respond to soldiers who did not follow order to kill themselves rather than be captured because it has never happened before," she told DW."
Two North Korean soldiers captured in Russia's Kursk over a year ago have requested relocation to South Korea and remain in uncertain custody. Activists accuse the South Korean government of delaying action while the men risk harsh reprisals if repatriated. The UN special rapporteur on North Korean human rights urged Ukraine to follow international protocol and avoid sending the men to places where they could face torture. North Korean military doctrine reportedly forbids surrender and instructs soldiers to kill themselves rather than be captured, raising fears that the soldiers and their families could be labeled traitors and punished.
Read at www.dw.com
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