By Riyaz ul Khaliq
ISTANBUL (AA) – South Korea and Ukraine on Monday discussed the repatriation of North Korean soldiers who were captured by Kyiv in a battlefield with Russia.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul told his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, that Seoul will accept “defection” if the two North Korean soldiers held by Kyiv express such an intent, Yonhap News reported.
The captured soldiers are considered South Korean citizens under the country's Constitution, Cho told Sybiha over the phone.
According to Seoul, Pyongyang deployed some 11,000 troops to Russia last October, as well as additional deployments this year, in its war against Ukraine, which completed three years last month.
The two North Korean soldiers were allegedly held by Ukrainian soldiers in Russia's Kursk region in January when Seoul claimed that at least 300 North Korean soldiers were killed and 2,700 injured in combat with Ukraine.
Neither Pyongyang nor Moscow have confirmed these reports.