South Korea will offer "necessary protection and support" to North Korean prisoners of war captured in Ukraine who wish to come to the South, Seoul said Wednesday.

A North Korean soldier’s plea for asylum in South Korea could force Pyongyang to reconsider its involvement in the Ukraine war and complicate Seoul-Moscow ties.

One of the two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine has expressed his wish to go to South Korea, a news report said Wednesday, in what would be the first known case for a North Korean captive to voice an intent to defect to the South.

North Korea has deployed thousands of troops to support Russian forces fighting in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian, U.S. and South Korean assessments, Pyongyang's first major involvement in a war since the 1950s.

South Korea said it’s willing to accept any North Korean soldiers captured in Ukraine who express a desire to defect to the South, an idea that emerges amid reports of thousands of North Korean soldiers sustaining casualties in support of Russian troops.

Seoul's announcement came after a North Korean POW reportedly expressed his desire to settle in South Korea, raising questions about whether his request would be granted.

A North Korean solider captured by Ukraine has spilled his dreams of defecting to live in South Korea in a new interview. He's asked: 'If I apply for asylum, would they take me?'

South Korea has stated that it is ready to accept any North Korean soldiers captured by the Ukrainian Armed Forces who wish to defect to the South, reports Bloomberg. “North Korean soldiers are our citizens under the Constitution and respecting individuals’ free will is in line with the international law and customs,

North Korean soldiers in Russia were under the impression they were fighting the South Korean army. This information was shared by one of them in an interview with "Chosun Ilbo." The soldier, now a prisoner of war in Ukraine,