In 2025, Ukrainian forces captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region, the first taken alive since Pyongyang entered the war in support of Russia. More than a year and a half later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the U.N. General Assembly that Ukraine had transferred the two men to South Korea, where they are reportedly in the care of Seoul’s intelligence agency. The transfer resolves the fate of the two men, but broader questions remain as the war continues, including the legal status of captured North Korean soldiers, how their wishes should be balanced against prisoner-exchange politics with Russia and whether the Seoul-Kyiv arrangement could serve as a model for future cases. Ukraine expert Dr. Olena Guseinova and international law and human rights expert Dr. Ethan Hee-Seok Shin will discuss how the transfer came about, what it means for Seoul-Kyiv relations and how future cases should be handled. NK News correspondent Anton Sokolin will moderate.

Public panel hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on China's influence and the repression of human rights in North Korea, featuring policy experts and academics. Open to external participants and livestreamed.

Russia said it plans to start a bus service connecting Primorsky Krai and North Korea by the end of this year. A Moscow Foreign Ministry official said the two countries are preparing to open a new automobile bridge over the Tumen River. Russian travel company Vostok Intour said it will operate a regular bus route connecting Vladivostok and the Rason Special Economic Zone. The company was selected in May as the operator of the route. North Korean General Secretary Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to build the Tumen River automobile bridge at their 2024 Pyongyang summit.