May 4 (UPI) -- On the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, the moment a North Korean soldier finds himself surrounded, his hand does not reach for his rifle -- it reaches for a grenade pin . The world's media calls this fanaticism. I see it differently. I was trained the same way. I recited the same oaths. I sang the same songs. In North Korea, I served in the Korean People's Army for more than three years. I am not writing this to condemn the dead. I am writing to explain why they made that choice --