South Korea will offer "necessary protection and support" to North Korean prisoners of war captured in Ukraine who wish to come to the South, Seoul said Wednesday.

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.