Kyiv: The Ukrainian government has affirmed that it will consider the humanitarian principle of not transferring prisoners of war against their will in the handling of two North Korean soldiers captured during its war with Russia, a civic group said Tuesday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the legal support bureau of Ukraine's defense ministry pledged to consider the non-refoulement principle for captured North Korean soldiers. This commitment was reported by a civic group supporting the prisoners of war, which cited a reply it received from Ukraine.
The two young North Korean soldiers have been held in Ukraine for more than a year following their capture by Ukrainian forces in January last year in what was once the front-line region of Russia's Kursk. Through South Korean media, the North Korean soldiers expressed a wish to come to South Korea, with Seoul indicating its willingness to receive them through consultations with Ukraine.
This marks the first time that the Ukrainian government has expressed to a South Korean civic organization its willingness to consider the non-refoulement principle for the soldiers. Despite this, the group voiced lingering concerns that the soldiers could be transferred against their will, calling for their relocation to a civic protection facility and a change in their status to that of those eligible for international protection.