North Korean troops sent to help Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine shot dead their own Russian comrades after firing in the wrong direction, a captured Russian soldier has claimed.
The video supposedly shows the Russian soldier recalling his experience in the Kursk region with Putin’s new recruits.
The anonymous soldier says his unit was in a forest with ten North Korean soldiers after being sent to dig trenches when they were caught in crossfire.
“During the assault, the Koreans started shooting at us,” he explained.
“We tried to explain to them where to aim, but I think they shot two of our people.”
A video that appeared on social media showed the moment a Russian soldier captured by Ukrainian troops recalled his experience in the Kursk region with Putin’s new recruits from North Korea.
It comes after North Korea’s foreign minister pledged last week to support Russia through its victory in Ukraine during a visit to Moscow.
Kim Jong Un has reportedly sent up to 10,000 troops to support Russia’s devastating invasion of Ukraine.
“I decided it was better to surrender in this situation than to die by our own bullet,” the soldier said.
The apparent friendly fire episode is the latest in a series of frontline humiliations for Putin and his bumbling forces.
It comes after North Korea’s foreign minister pledged last week to support Russia through its victory in Ukraine during a visit to Moscow.
Choe Son Hui’s visit to Russia came amid reports that up to 10,000 North Korean soldiers could be training in Russia and about to enter the more than two-year conflict on Russia’s side.
US intelligence said last week that some North Korean troops had already headed to the Kursk border region, and Washington and Seoul warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to withdraw his army.
Meanwhile, Russia’s lower parliament unanimously ratified a defense treaty with North Korea that was signed between Putin and Kim during the Russian president’s state visit to the North Korean capital in June.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s intelligence services last week released audio of what they claimed were Russian troops complaining about the arrival of North Korean fighters.
In one recording, a pair of soldiers can be heard complaining about the so-called ‘K Battalion’, referring to them as ‘damn Chinese’ and stating that one of their fellow soldiers had said ‘who knows what the fuck’. **we’re supposed to do with them.’
Another clip obtained by Ukrainian Defense Intelligence (GUR) appeared to expose the lack of communication and planning regarding the integration of North Korean troops with their Russian counterparts.
Last month a video emerged purportedly showing North Korean soldiers in Russia.
North Korea’s involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict comes after President Vladimir Putin signed a mutual assistance pact with Pyongyang this summer.
“He was simply talking about Battalion K, I say: ‘And who gets them the weapons and ammunition?’ We have rations and from what I hear they are for the brigade,” complained one Russian soldier.
“He said, ‘What damn brigade?’ You’re getting it all.” I just said I understood everything and went out to smoke.’
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called the deployment a “provocation that threatens global security beyond the Korean Peninsula and Europe.”
Yoon also said South Korea will “review” its stance on supplying weapons to Ukraine in its war with Russia, which the country has long resisted.
Seoul has already sold billions of dollars worth of tanks, howitzers, attack planes and rocket launchers to Poland, a key ally of kyiv.
