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.

The South Korean government has announced that it will provide the necessary protection and support to all North Korean soldiers captured by the Ukrainian military, in accordance with the fundamental principle and related laws that guarantee their acceptance if they request to move to S.

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.