Ken Rhee appears on German broadcasting station in Ukraine

Rhee Ken during a scene of the clip that was aired on the German news service Tagesschau [JOONGANG ILBO]

A clip of Ken Rhee, 38, in Ukraine was aired on a German broadcasting station on Saturday.

German news program Tagesschau aired a five-minute, 44-second clip of Rhee under the title "A foreign soldier in Ukraine."

In the interview with the program, Rhee says, "It is difficult to fight against an enemy who is one of the world's superpowers. They have tons of ammunition and artillery. But I've had a lot of experience in Somalia and Iraq in the past, and I believe I am of help here."

He continued, "I almost died two or three times. A lot of people tell me, 'You've done enough, you've hurt your knee,' but I want to achieve more until Ukraine wins."

The clip also showed Rhee firing a machine gun and his team driving a tank and armored vehicles. The caption under some of these scenes said that Rhee had provided the program with the footage.

Rhee returned to Korea last week, citing torn ligaments in his knee. It had been three months since he left Korea to fight in Ukraine.

Upon arrival at the airport, a police investigator was dispatched to check Rhee’s injuries and measures were taken immediately to forbid him from again leaving the country.

Rhee is a former Korean Navy special forces officer who went to Ukraine in March to fight Russia. He was once one of the most sought-after TV personalities after his appearance on the YouTube reality series “Fake Men.” However, his popularity didn't last long after he faced accusations of sexual harassment in 2020.

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]