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The South Korean government will hold consultations with Ukraine on the return of North Korean military personnel captured by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This is reported by Yonhap.
South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Lee Jae-un commented on a video published by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which one of the North Korean prisoners expressed his desire to remain in Ukraine.
"Since North Korean soldiers are our citizens according to the Constitution, (the government) plans to hold negotiations with Ukraine if they (the prisoners) request to defect to South Korea.", - he said.
According to the constitution of South Korea, the entire Korean Peninsula is its territory, therefore all its inhabitants, including the DPRK, are South Korean citizens.
At the same time, Lee Jae-un admitted that so far neither of the two prisoners has expressed a desire to go to South Korea and added that the authorities are currently in contact with Ukraine regarding the issues of North Korean soldiers.
In turn, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy showed a new video with a North Korean soldier. The prisoner says he was wounded in battle and abandoned by his comrades. He lay there for several days until he was found by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
