South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers on Monday that two North Korean soldiers who were captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting alongside Russian forces in Russia’s Kursk border region haven’t expressed a desire to seek asylum in South Korea.

SEOUL -- North Korean soldiers deployed to fight against Ukraine have been instructed to take their own lives to avoid capture, according to an assessment by South Korea's spy agency.

At least 300 North Korean soldiers were killed in combat with Ukraine, South Korea claimed on Monday. Some 2,700 others were injured, the South Korean National Intelligence Service told lawmakers, according to the Seoul-based Yonhap News.

SEOUL, Jan. 11 (Yonhap) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukraine has captured two wounded North Korean soldiers in Russia's western Kursk region and investigators are questioning them.

The soldiers, reportedly from North Korea's elite Storm Corps, have apparently been ordered to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner.

The soldier claimed he was alone on the battlefield for three-to-five days before Ukrainian forces found him and gave him "an injection of some kind".