One of the biggest obstacles facing the Ukrainian forces tasked with the objective while operating in Russia’s Kursk Oblast was overcoming the fanatical, suicidal zeal instilled in Pyongyang's troops."(One North Korean soldier) was about to be taken prisoner, but with the words ‘Glory to the Party' or 'Glory to Kim Jong-un,' he blew himself up with a grenade," a Ukraine's Special Operations Forces soldier with the callsign "Borsuk" told the Kyiv Independent.The mission eventually succeeded earlier this month with the capture of one North Korean soldier by Special Operations Forces and another one by Ukraine’s Airborne Forces. President Volodymyr Zelensky described their capture as "irrefutable evidence" of Pyongyang's involvement in the Kremlin's full-scale war.According to Ukraine, North Korea has deployed around 12,000 soldiers in Kursk Oblast, where Kyiv launched a surprise cross-border incursion in August 2024.Neither Russia nor North Korea have officially acknowledged the deployment, which is the latest move in Moscow's ever-increasing — and humiliating — reliance on Pyongyang to bolster its military, following long-running shipments of artillery shells and ballistic missiles.