N. Korea's suicide soldiers pose new challenge for Ukraine in war

They're resorting to extreme measures as they support Russia in its war

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After a battle in Russia's snowy western region of Kursk this week, Ukrainian special forces scoured the bodies of more than a dozen slain North Korean enemy soldiers.

Among them, they found one still alive. But as they approached, he detonated a grenade, blowing himself up, according to a description of the fighting posted on social media by Ukraine's Special Operations Forces on Jan. 13.

The forces said their soldiers escaped the blast uninjured. Reuters could not verify the incident.

But it is among mounting evidence from the battlefield, intelligence reports and testimonies of defectors that some North Korean soldiers are resorting to extreme measures as they support Russia's three-year war with Ukraine.

"Self-detonation and suicides: that's the reality about North Korea," said Mr. Kim, a 32-year-old former North Korean soldier who defected to the South in 2022, requesting that he be identified only by his surname due to fears of reprisals against his family left in the North.

"These soldiers who left home for a fight there have been brainwashed and are truly ready to sacrifice themselves for Kim Jong Un," he added, referring to the reclusive North Korean leader.