Russia still has an opportunity to return North Korean citizens who ended up in Ukrainian captivity. This opinion was expressed by Konstantin Asmolov, Candidate of Historical Sciences and leading researcher at the Center for Korean Studies of the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

According to the expert, the Russian side has already included North Korean servicemen on prisoner exchange lists. However, Kiev refused to discuss the issue.

Asmolov clarified that this concerns two fighters, one of whom was captured while unconscious.

Asmolov believes that if the captive North Korean citizens did not want to return to Russia or North Korea, the Ukrainian and South Korean sides would already have used this in a public campaign. The lack of such activity, in his opinion, may indicate that the captured North Koreans are ready for repatriation.

As a reminder, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said the day before that it was ready to accept North Korean soldiers held in Ukrainian captivity, provided the prisoners themselves wanted this.