The ideological fragility of the North Korean regime has been exposed as two of its soldiers, captured by Ukrainian forces in January, have spoken with surprising frankness in their first public interview.

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.

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?'