North Korean POWs held by Ukraine plead for protection

Inside a stark detention facility in Kyiv, Ukraine, two North Korean soldiers, Ri Gang Eun, 27, and Baek Pyung Gang, 22, appeared on a recent broadcast interview, pleading for help to reach South Korea. Ri, a sniper, suffered a shattered jaw and arm, and Baek, a rifleman, sustained a severe leg injury from a drone strike. The two men, who are using pseudonyms in public statements, have been detained for over a year since their January 2025 capture from Russia’s Kursk region, where they fought alongside the Russian army.

In North Korea, being taken prisoner is a crime punishable by execution and extermination of family members, the soldiers told producer Kim Young-mi on MBC’s program PD Notebook, which aired in January.

“If I’d had a grenade, I could have died instead of being captured,” said Ri, describing other soldiers who blew themselves up to avoid surrender. “If we aren’t taken to South Korea, we have no choice but to die.” He added, “If we return, our families will be exterminated for three generations.”

Baek and Ri wish to defect to South Korea rather than be returned to Russia or their homeland. They were notably absent from a 314-person prisoner exchange that Kyiv and Moscow agreed to on Feb. 5. Another swap last week transferred 500 captured soldiers following negotiations in Geneva. But Ukraine has so far kept the North Korean soldiers as prisoners within its own borders, their plight prompting human rights groups and Christian organizations to lobby for Ukraine to release the two soldiers to South Korea.

Baek and Ri are not the only ones. On Feb. 23, Kyeoreal Unification Solidarity, a South Korean nongovernmental organization led by North Korean defectors, reported that around nine additional North Korean soldiers were detained as of early 2026, citing a lawyer working with the prisoner-of-war coordination headquarters in Ukraine. Their identities and status are still being officially verified. In a March 9 meeting, the broader Emergency Committee for the Free Repatriation of North Korean Soldiers, which includes Kyeoreal, said the Ukrainian government has responded to inquiries by saying “there is nothing to confirm at this time.”

According to chairman Jang Se-yul, Kyeoreal Unification Solidarity has been working locally for the past year to advocate for the safe resettlement of the POWs. The group began its efforts after hearing that Ri and Baek had attempted suicide. Jang’s organization sent letters, as well as food from their home country, to the two soldiers.

“We will consider the people in South Korea as our biological parents and siblings, and we have decided to go into that embrace,” the soldiers wrote back.

Jang, who once served in North Korea’s foreign intelligence service, said Ri and Baek, being considered deserters, would be charged under North Korean military law if forcibly repatriated.

“The fact that they didn’t commit suicide and are still alive is against the regulations of the military law,” Jang said. He said the soldiers could be charged under Article 63, 64, and 65 of the North Korean Criminal Code, including treason for expressing intent to defect and for speaking with media and officials of South Korea, considered an enemy state. Penalties include execution, life imprisonment, and guilt by association where family members are punished through forced relocation or imprisonment.

Pressuring soldiers to commit suicide rather than be captured is a violation of human rights and international law, said Kang Dong-wan, a political science professor from South Korea’s Dong-A University. Kang leads Korea Unification Association, a Christian nonprofit that advocates for North Korean human rights. He added that “the deployment of North Korean soldiers itself should be condemned.”

Some 11,000 to 12,000 North Korean troops are deployed in Russia under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed in June 2024. Many North Korean soldiers were reportedly told they would only be participating in “training exercises.” Ill-prepared for drone warfare, North Korean units have suffered heavy losses, with South Korea’s National Intelligence Service estimating around 6,000 wounded or killed.

North Korea has called home around 3,000 soldiers, a majority reassigned as military instructors as Pyongyang seeks to acquire modern warfare skills. North Korea has also stepped up propaganda glorifying the war dead with housing projects and memorials. According to Rep. Yu Yong-weon of South Korea’s conservative People Power Party, Ukrainian military authorities are verifying intelligence that North Korea is preparing to dispatch an additional 30,000 troops.

While the stakes are existential for North Korean POWs, the captured soldiers remain strategic and information assets from Ukraine’s standpoint. Previously, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was willing to hand over the POWs to Pyongyang in exchange for Ukrainian POWs and to negotiate “other options” for North Korean POWs “who do not wish to return.” This could potentially involve South Korean reconstruction aid or military support.

However, Jang said humanitarian groups would continue to argue on the basis of humanitarian grounds rather than military negotiations.

“This is about their lives, and these people have expressed their free will,” Jang said.

The issue remains complex under international laws. The 1951 Refugee Convention’s non-refoulement principle, which prohibits sending people to places where they face persecution or torture, faces a legal clash with the 1949 Third Geneva Convention, which requires immediate repatriation of POWs after hostilities end.

Kyeoreal Unification Solidarity has argued that non-refoulement is not limited to refugees but applies to these POWs under international laws such as the UN Convention Against Torture. It has written to international bodies such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN Human Rights Office, and the UN Refugee Agency, requesting diplomatic and legal support. The group is also working to secure recognition of the detainees as protected persons within the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

The situation of the North Korean POWs has also drawn scrutiny to South Korea’s response, with conservative lawmakers and human rights advocates accusing the president’s administration of slow-walking the process.

“Since the Lee Jae-myung government came to power, North Korean human rights issues have struggled to gain attention,” said Ilhyeok Kim, a defector of 15 years and spokesperson for the emergency committee. “When a progressive administration is in office, they do not focus on North Korean human rights but instead on maintaining dialogue with Pyongyang.”

At a March 3 news conference, Rep. Yu Yong-weon said forced repatriation could not be ruled out, citing officials from his trip to Ukraine who said Russia had included the two POWs in prisoner exchange lists. “The government must send a special envoy to Ukraine before it’s too late to push for their transfer to South Korea,” Yu said.

However, at a National Assembly session on March 6, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun claimed there was “no need to worry” as Ukraine’s foreign ministry had assured him that the North Korean POWs would not be repatriated to Moscow.

South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has affirmed from the beginning that it would accept North Korean POWs as South Korean citizens as its constitution stipulates. But the UN special rapporteur for human rights in North Korea, Elizabeth Salmón, said last month the decision ultimately rests with Kyiv.

Meanwhile, human rights groups continue to intensify their efforts on the international stage. The emergency committee has contacted major European parliaments about the case. On Jan. 25, the U.S.-based Free Joseon Association sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump requesting protection of the North Korean POWs. It has petitioned the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, to halt the transfer of the POWs in future prisoner exchanges.

Christian-led rescue efforts are also ongoing in South Korea. Professor Kang Dong-wan’s Korea Unification Association, along with the Esther Prayer Movement, launched a fundraising campaign on Feb. 1 that aims to raise 26 million won (about $18,000). The group will direct the funds toward international legal counsel and the on-the-ground operations of human rights groups in Ukraine, Kang said. The Esther Prayer movement is also praying for the two soldiers in daily overnight prayer meetings.

According to Kang, it is a Christian calling to rescue these POWs who have pleaded for survival.

“In the story of the Good Samaritan, we see someone using their own resources to help a victim of robbery,” Kang said. “In this situation, we have seen the desperation of the North Korean POWs. It is our mission to use every possible method to save their lives.”