An undated handout photograph released, Jan. 11, from the Telegram account of a President V. Zelenskiy official shows an alledged soldier presented as North Korean detained by Ukrainian authorities at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, following his capture by the Ukrainian army. AFP-Yonhap

A Ukrainian defense intelligence official has mentioned the possibility of sending North Korean soldiers captured during combat to South Korea, in the first such acknowledgment by Kyiv.

Andriy Chernyak, a representative of Ukraine's defense intelligence, made the remark in an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency in Kyiv, Friday (local time), when asked about the two North Korean soldiers held in Ukraine amid the ongoing war with Russia.

"Everything is possible," Chernyak said in the interview conducted in Ukrainian. "Nowadays, we cooperate with the South Korean government very closely. We have tight connections with your defense intelligence and special forces. So we think that such a situation may happen."

One of the two North Korean soldiers expressed his intention to defect to the South in a recent interview with the South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo. The South Korean government has since said it is willing to provide protection and support if the soldiers request to come to the South, treating them as South Korean citizens, as guaranteed under the country's Constitution.

Chernyak, who works for the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, the military intelligence agency of the Ministry of Defense, said he cannot disclose the location where the North Korean prisoners are being held.

"But all their needs are covered, they have everything necessary and they are situated in a protected, safe place," he said.

Chernyak said the 11,000 North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia are posing a "real problem" for not only Ukraine but also the Asia-Pacific region. Around 4,000 of them have already been killed or seriously wounded, he said, but some could return to the battlefield after recovering.

"In this way, the military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is prolonging," Chernyak said. "Why I say it's a danger not only for Ukraine is because if those soldiers are injured, they will come back home and they are those people who have studied in real war conditions. This knowledge includes UAV tactics and small infantry group tactics."

Chernyak added, "Right now in the world, only the Ukrainian and Russian armies have such experience, and North Korea is getting it too."

When asked about reports that North Korean troops had disappeared from the front lines since mid-January, Chernyak dismissed them as untrue.

"Actually they didn't disappear," he said. "They were just taken back … because of the huge losses. They were completed and returned back to the battlefield."

He also said by Ukraine's estimates, North Korea could send an additional 150,000 troops in support of Russia's invasion.

"In the beginning, the North Korean soldiers didn't understand what to do," Chernyak said. "They had used the wrong tactics. That's why they had so many losses. But they learn very fast. And now they have become quite skillful and professional. They have no fear of death and fight bravely."

Russian soldiers, however, "undervalue them and act like North Korean soldiers are lower class," he said. "But honestly, we have to note their skills."

On the negotiations between the United States and Russia to end the war, Chernyak said Moscow will try to prove Ukraine's armed forces are unable to protect the country.

"Russia is trying to activate their efforts along the whole front line. Even though there are no active hostilities, they enhance their intelligence operations," he said. "No doubt they are going to use that for influencing the negotiation process."

Chernyak added, "We shouldn't undervalue the enemy ... But on the other hand we have seen that the Russian Army is not so scary as they wanted to show."

The official stressed Ukraine "can still hold the front line and fight" and Russians have paid "a high cost with the great human resource losses." (Yonhap)