Ukraine's surrender hotline tempts North Koreans to leave, promising they will be well fed.

• Ukraine provides comfortable beds and warm meals to North Korean soldiers who surrender.

• “You don't have to die in another country senselessly,” said Ukraine's military intelligence service.

• North Korea is believed to have sent thousands of troops to help Russia fight Ukraine.

Ukraine lures North Korean soldiers imprisoned in Russia with comfortable beds and warm meals to surrender.

“To the soldiers of the Korean People's Army: You, who were sent to help Putin's regime, do not need to die senselessly in another country,” Ukraine's military intelligence agency said in an October 23 statement titled “I Want to Live.” “A phone chatbot.

The “I Want to Live” project is a service that allows Russian soldiers to volunteer by dialing their phone number. Access to the hotline and chatbot was blocked in Russia back in October 2022, although it can still be accessed via VPN.

“Surrender! Ukraine offers you protection, food, and warmth,” the statement said, adding that Russian soldiers who had surrendered were now living in “free places” and being given “hot meals three times a day.”

Without a statement, Ukraine published a Korean-language video showing its prisoner-of-war camps and the food served there.

The video, also posted on X and YouTube, carries a phone number and a QR code for North Korean soldiers who want to contact Ukrainian authorities.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

North Korea is believed to have sent thousands of troops to help Russia fight Ukraine, according to South Korean, Ukrainian and US officials.

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an evening address on Telegram that North Korean troops “could appear on the battlefield” any time now.

“Ukraine will be forced to fight North Korea in Europe,” Zelenskyy said.

Russia's use of North Korean troops is another indication that it is relying heavily on allies to continue its war effort. Putin, for his part, dedicated 40% of the national budget to defense production, and signed an agreement with Pyongyang that will open another source of military supplies and ammunition.

But Ukraine's effort to encourage North Korean troops to surrender faces unique challenges. North Korea experts previously told Business Insider about the strict measures Pyongyang takes when sending citizens abroad.

Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., a North Korea defense expert at the Center for International and Strategic Studies, told BI that North Korea's Kim is likely to send only “politically reliable people” forward.

Those sent, Bermudez said, will likely be accompanied by officials from the ruling Workers' Party of Korea “who are reporting to everyone.”

Bruce W. Bennett, a defense researcher and North Korea expert at RAND, told BI that the country is trying to rein in its citizens overseas by threatening to punish their families if they make a mistake.

This, says Bennett, is why North Korean diplomats are never allowed to bring their entire family on their overseas assignment.

Therefore, abusers risk harming their family if they decide to flee to North Korea, Bermudez told BI.

“North Korea believes in generational punishment,” he added.

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