The 'Sausage' Clutched in Ukrainian Soldiers' Gun Barrels...Captured North Korean Soldier Asks, "Can I Eat This?"

North Korea's Economic Hardship
Appears to Influence Some Soldiers' Decision to Deploy

North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia reportedly did not let go of the sausages in their hands even in the tense situation of being captured by Ukrainian forces.

Two North Korean soldiers captured as prisoners by Ukrainian forces on January 9 in Kursk Oblast, Russia. Ukrainian English-language media Euromaidan Press

On the 23rd (local time), according to the Ukrainian English-language media Euromaidan Press, paratroopers from the Ukrainian 95th Air Assault Brigade revealed specific details about the capture of North Korean soldiers.

According to the report, Pavlo, a paratrooper belonging to the 95th Air Assault Brigade, stated that one of the captured North Korean soldiers refused to put down the sausage in his hand even when faced with the muzzle of a gun. Pavlo said, "When our troops approached, he did not respond at all to Ukrainian, Russian, or English," adding, "We had to use gestures to communicate with them."

He continued, "He was wearing a bulletproof vest with grenades and a knife attached, and he made a gesture as if surrendering by putting them down on the ground," and "He took out something red from his pocket, which I initially thought was a lighter, but it was a sausage." He added, "The North Korean soldier indicated by gesture that he wanted to eat the sausage, and our troops allowed it."

This situation supports the analysis that severe economic hardship and food shortages in North Korea influenced some soldiers' decisions to volunteer for deployment. In November last year, the U.S. Wall Street Journal (WSJ) pointed out that "North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia are likely to volunteer willingly for deployment due to indoctrinated loyalty and hunger, despite the risk of becoming so-called cannon fodder." Yuseonghyun (28), a defector and former soldier who defected in 2019, told WSJ that if he had received orders to deploy to Russia, he would have been grateful and followed the orders, saying, "Like many North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia this time, I also did not have proper meals when I was in the North Korean army."

Meanwhile, Ukraine announced on the 11th that it had captured two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region of Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released a video of the interrogation of the North Korean prisoners on X (formerly Twitter). In the video, one of the two captured North Korean soldiers testified that he came to Russia without knowing that he had been deployed or the deployment location.