Posted on 11/22/2017 3:08:29 PM PST by Kaslin
At a live TV briefing, the command released dramatic video showing the unidentified soldier speeding down a tree-lined road past shocked North Korean soldiers, who begin to run after him. He crashes the jeep near the line that divides North and South in the so-called “truce village” of Panmunjom, where North and South Korean soldiers face each other at their closest distance just feet away.
Soldiers from the North sprint to the area, firing their weapons at the defector; one hurries across the dividing line before running back to the northern side. South Korean soldiers then crawl up to the defector, who has fallen injured in a mass of leaves against a small wall. They drag him to safety as North Korean troops gather on their side of the line…
U.S. Army Col. Chad G. Carroll, a spokesman for the U.N. command, said the North violated the armistice by “one, firing weapons across the MDL, and two, by actually crossing the MDL temporarily,” referring to the military demarcation line that bisects the Koreas.
The defector was shot five times and was on a breathing machine for a while, but after two surgeries he has regained consciousness and is expected to survive. Here’s a shortened version of the escape (if you want to see more there’s a complete video here):
Why would a defector risk being shot by his own fellow soldiers to escape? Last week, Fox had a report on the treatment of the defector. South Korean doctors were shocked to find dozens of parasites living inside his body:
Lee Cook-jong, the defector’s lead surgeon, showed photos of the parasitic worms, including an 11-inch long worm found in the man’s digestive tract.
“In my over 20 year-long career as a surgeon, I have only seen something like this in a textbook,” Lee told reporters.
There are photos at the link above if you really want to be grossed out the day before Thanksgiving. There was a story at the BBC yesterday about treatment of women in the North Korean military which apparently includes frequent rape by male superior officers. In short, conditions are so bad that it’s amazing more people aren’t risking their lives to escape.
“No worms were hurt in the making of this video.”
I wonder how typical his condition and his mental state are.
And, I wish him a full recovery and a long, happy life south of the DMZ.
Defectors from NK usually have a very difficult time adjusting. Even when they are somewhat prepared, through contraband sources of information about the outside world, and through the programs that South Korea has in place to help them, they find themselves in such a completely different world.
Interviews that you can find of them on the Internet are heartbreaking.
That is why KimJongILL has to rely on nukes - cuz his soldiers are too ill to fight.
A real can of worms!
Maybe we should admit 100 thousand Norkie refugees.
They wouldn’t bring the worms here!
Just overfly the country dropping worm medicine to the general populace.
One of the Norks came across the border to get a better shot. We REALLY should have shot him. Just not our style. I hope they’re I,D’d like they did the East German border guards when they shot their escapees.
Do you have any links to the interviews, I’m interested?
I’ve been watching the Korean peninsula for a long time and have seen some of them. You’re exactly right. Even Viktor Belenko (Soviet pilot who defected with his aircraft) almost broke down and went back. I remember that the DPRK defectors had some kind of an isolated sanctuary that they could go to, which was kind of spartan to cut off the sensory stimulation of the ROK and talk with fellow defectors.
If five shots didn’t kill him you wonder how well trained the NORKs are?
It’s one thing to follow orders. These guards were there because their superiors knew they could be counted on. Justice will be served.
I’m surprised the NORK who crossed the border didn’t also defect. Optimally, the defector didn’t have any close family members in NK.
They do have the advantage of a common language; that's got to make it easier on them than if they did not.
< / Captain Obvious >
I remember an interview with a Russian immigrant who came here after the fall - they said that it was extremely disturbing and confusing just to go into a supermarket, and see so many choices. They just had no concept of that kind of bounty and choice, and it was very upsetting to them.
I also recall one of the defectors from NK remarking that one thing they missed from NK was seeing the stars at night - I’m sure we all have seen the satellite pics of dark North Korea, and bright South Korea. No light pollution in the North.
I can certainly understand how disconcerting that would be. Main reason why I could not live in a city. Two cities are encroaching on our night sky, might have to move.
They shot 40 rounds, only five hit him, none killed him. How hard were they trying?
Khrushchev said, reason American supermarkets have so many goods on shelves because Americans have no money to buy them. OTOH... Russian stores are empty because people have bought everything...hahahahaha
Belenko said the same thing. He STUFFED a supermarket cart so that he’d get his before the masses showed up and cleaned the place out. Then he thought that the whole of the supermarket was some kind of CIA Potemkin-Village put-on. It took him a while to get who we are and how life in the West is. Same syndrome with the norks, only worse.
As an ameteur astonomer, I get that. I used to prospect for gold with a good friend in the Sierra Nevada mountains. One night I pulled over on our way back home and shut off the car. We sat there waiting for our eyes to adjust. We got out and looked up. We were probably at 6000 feet; the sky was such a blaze of glory that we couldn’t pick out our usual favorite astronomical observing targets. He can still see the sky, just not everywhere.
I’m having difficulty finding some of the ones that I saw about a year ago, when I began studying this; but here are some links. As you watch the YouTube ones, others will pop up on the sidebar. When I have time, I’ll try to find more of the ones that I felt were especially important.
I’ve been interested in Korea and Korean culture for decades, since I was befriended by a Korean immigrant family and became close to them. They were among the most sterling and admirable people I had ever met; and when you are able to become immersed in a culture through close contact with the people like that, the culture becomes like another ‘home’ and personal background. (Today, the smell of roasted buckwheat tea and kimchi are as comforting to me as the smell of my Grandmother’s chicken pie always was ;-)
I don’t see that the bearing and sensibilities of these NK defectors are really much different from the South Koreans that I’ve known, despite their enduring the overlay of a vicious political system; and I’ve been very moved by their stories and find them ‘familiar’ despite their background.
Dictators can try, but they cannot ever completely take the humanity out of humans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcgnuy1yZYw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MprzRfUUSx0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhmzpMP3bEE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKbnyLKLHbo
http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/01/03/north-korean-defectors-disillusioned-novak-pkg.cnn
I’m sure the common language is helpful, though there are probably many differences in expression.
It’s the sheer confusion of the cultural differences - not to mention technology, pace of life, etc., that makes it so difficult. A lot of them also face prejudice for many reasons, not the least of which is suspicion that they are ‘spies’.
“Lee Cook-jong, the defector’s lead surgeon, showed photos of the parasitic worms, including an 11-inch long worm found in the man’s digestive tract. “In my over 20 year-long career as a surgeon, I have only seen something like this in a textbook,” Lee told reporters”
Ain’t Socialism grand???
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