As North Korean troops dispatched to Russia become increasingly involved in combat with Ukraine, China is upping its pressure on North Korea with crackdowns on North Korean workers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he’s willing to hand over the soldiers to North Korea, if Kim Jong Un arranges for an exchange with Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia.

Ukrainian troops captured two North Korean soldiers as prisoners of war (POWs) in Russia's Kursk Oblast, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Jan. 11. "This task was not easy," he said in a Telegram post.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video showing the apparent interrogation of two North Korean soldiers captured alive in the war.

South Korea's intelligence agency estimates that approximately 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and another 2,700 injured while fighting alongside Russian forces against Ukraine. This marks North Korea's first participation in a large-scale conflict since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Ukraine has found “irrefutable evidence” of North Korea’s involvement in Russia’s war against his country, president Volodymyr Zelensky said this week as he announced the capture of two North Korean soldiers.

A South Korean lawmaker said Seoul's intelligence showed some 3,000 North Korean troops have been wounded or killed in Kursk.

That makes capture of the two North Koreans of enormous propaganda value to Ukraine. During video interrogations, published by Zelenskyy, the North Korean POWs said they were told they were being deployed to Russia for training and then fighting, and that they were issued fake Russian military IDs.

A video released last week shows Ukrainian authorities interrogating two North Korean soldiers captured in the Kursk region of Russia. In the video, one of the soldiers expressed a desire to stay in Ukraine;

To avoid being hit by multiple drone attacks from the air, North Koreans have taken to forming a ‘human shield,’” says a Seoul-based specialist.