Two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces have sent handwritten letters expressing their desire to defect to South Korea, according to a group of North Korean defectors.

The letters were delivered to the defector organization Gyeoreol Unification Solidarity through a conflict-zone journalist who met the prisoners at a detention facility near Kyiv.

In the letters, the prisoners write that they consider South Koreans family and have decided to return to their embrace.

They thanked the defectors for encouraging them to view their situation not as a tragedy but as the beginning of a new life and said they hoped to meet in person in South Korea to express their gratitude.

The organization said the letters were written in late October and the originals were delivered earlier this month, providing what they say is the first physical evidence of the prisoners’ intentions.

The South Korean government has said it will accept any North Korean prisoners of war who clearly express a wish to defect, a position it has already conveyed to Ukraine.