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Subscribe to RSSBUSAN, South Korea – A North Korean soldier claimed to have killed two of his officers before defecting to South Korea across their heavily armed border, a South Korean official said.
The defense ministry official said the defection took place about noon Saturday across the western section of the Demilitarized Zone.
The official declined to be identified because an interrogation of the soldier was still under way.
Defections across the Demilitarized Zone, a buffer zone dividing the two Koreas, are rare as the 155-mile land border is heavily armed and tightly guarded.
US-Japan agree on new defense system to counter North Korea ballistic missiles
The North Korean claimed that he shot dead his platoon and squad chiefs while on guard duty shortly before his border crossing, according to local media reports.
Hundreds of North Koreans flee each year across its northern border with China and most make their way to the South, with more than 20,000 having found refuge in the wealthy capitalist neighbor.
Elizabeth Dalziel / AP
From work to play, see pictures from inside the secretive country.
Most cite economic hardship and political persecution as the main reasons for leaving home.
The two Koreas are still technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended only with a ceasefire, not a peace treaty.
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I might do the same to escape North Korea.
I would have too (if my family were not going to be killed behind me, in other words, if I had no family), but I would have lied, and made up a story about self-defense. I worry that they might arrest him now, but I hope not.
Sounds like possible South Korean propaganda to me. From what I understand (from the KCNA), this particular guard was being charged with stealing and was in the process of being arrested by his superior officers when the incident took place. By the way, a total of six American soldiers have defected to North Korea and twentyone to China since the end of the hostilities on the peninsula.
@mmarlen: South Korean propaganda? My, aren't we the suspicious type! I wonder what he could have been stealing, perhaps some officer's bowl meat and rice to put in his empty belly.
By the way, I bet those six Americans wish they could have a second chance at making that decision.
But these kind of nations have a standing deal for fake defecting from All commie countries.!!! Is this one?
And in other news :"US claims Alqeada is enemy...however US is assisting Alqeada in Syria"
Why is this even news? Are we planning on attacking another country? Is north Korea not giving into the central banks?
This could be a ruse too. Russia did this quite often as have other Asian countries so let's see what the South Koreans squeeze out of this guy before we jump to conclusions.
The reader who goes by the tag marlen101917. That couldn't be a contraction of Marx Lenin, could it be? You sure sound like an apparatchik for the Commies.
This demilitarized zone is analogous to the Berlin wall in that its primary function is to keep their people from escaping rather than defending against any invasion.
10/19/1917 is indeed the date of the Russian Communist revolution.
And Karl Marx begins his name with "mar".
And Lenin's name begins with "len"
Marlen 101917...--- You have been exposed.
Oh no!! I guess I'll defect to NK. LOL
I dunno....I dont trust this "soldier's" story....
Sure, he claimed to have shot and killed two officers, but no one else heard it? It couldn't have been THAT easy, especially trying to defect across the DMZ, the world's most heavily guarded border. The South Korean government should be cautious with this individual.
If I am wrong, then I hope these two individuals the best. It's disheartening to know that millions of others are still suffering under that dictatorship.
But, still, I think caution is still important until the truth can be verified.
@mqire,
Bet you couldn't spell al-Gebra in high school either.
actually, one did come back a couple years ago, along with his arranged and kidnapped (by NK) japanese wife.
They just need a few million more to do that and N. Korea might emerge from the Dark Ages relatively intact.
You might be right. But let THEM have at it. NOT our business, nor our problem.
The suffering of ANY man is the problem of ALL men.
Then go grab a gun, hop on the next plane to Pyonogyang and straighten everything out over there. Give Little Kim Junior a piece of your mind. Let us know how you make out, okay?
The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about .
-Albert Einstein
The biggest reason why N. Korea is so closed off after all these years is because of our policies. It's the same with Cuba. We do everything we can to close them off. It doesn't do any good though. The fact is we brought down the two biggest and most powerful Communist governments in the world. And we did it with kindness not bullets. In China and Russia Communism just kind of evaporated under free trade. People start buying and selling, working and getting paid. In Russia it was the black markets that woke the people up, all these goods from the west coming in things that they just couldn't get before. China and Russia let Capitalism happen because once the people started buying and selling they couldn't stop it if they tried. Kind of like our drug trade. The war on drugs is unsuccessful because as long as there's a demand there will be a supply.
Liitle56,
"They just need a few million more to do that"
If a few million more did that, the North Korean Army would have been wiped out a long time ago!
zuksam: Last I heard, communism was doing quite well in China, and Putin wants it re-established in Russia. I get my info from watching the news, where do you get yours?
@HOTTICKET: Perhaps you are right about it not being our problem because it is not in our backyard. Nonetheless, those people, most of them, are kept in bondage and kept cold and hungry against their wishes. Treatment there is not human, my dog has a better standard of living they the common North Korean. If that is not a human concern to you, then ice water flows through your veins.
And in your 2.3 you tell Arizona to grab a gun and kill people. What the hell is the matter with you? Is that how you resolve your disputes? Get some anger management! Jeez, what's up with you?
I think Afghanistan and Iraq and the rest of those Muslim countries need a leader like the 'Dear Leader' that rules North Korea. I bet we wouldn't be having the trouble we are having today if they did.
@zuksam: Are you for real? We are the reason North Korea is so insular? I'm sorry, but tha ist just totally off the truth. It was their constituion since the end of WWII. Now why would our policies make them so insular and isolated? All they would have to do is open doors to China, you know, that big neighbor to their north, a fellow communist. They don't even do that. That has nothing to do with American foreign policy. The only time they open up is when the Ministry of Agriculture publishers its rice crop harvest report.
You are one of those who believes America is the root cause of all the world's ills. We are responsible for some, but North Korea's choice to be isolated and the subsequent suffering of their people is not our fault.
And BTW, about the world's ills, we are the first to rush in and help out in a crisis, a natural disaster, to aid and assist where people are starving, need medicine, potable water, pencils and desks. Let's not choose to neglect that aspect about who we are!
@imnotlost,
Maybe you are. "The socialist market economy of modern China consists of a mixture of state-owned enterprises with an open-market economy. It is based on Deng Xiaoping's political platform of socialism with Chinese characteristics (simplified Chinese: 中国特色社会主义; traditional Chinese: 中國特色社會主義; pinyin: Zhōngguótèsè shèhuìzhǔyì) and Reform and Opening (simplified Chinese: 改革开放; traditional Chinese: 改革開放; pinyin: Gǎigé Kāifàng). It is the economic system in the People's Republic of China since the Chinese economic reform started in 1978. Despite its formal title, this system has been widely cited as a form of state capitalism."
A totaliarian regime is a totalitarian regime. And China, like it or not, is one of the largest CAPITALIST economies in the world.
Actually the PRC is quite capitalistic. Their success can be directly thanked, in part, due to the Sino-Soviet split which led them to warmer relations with the US. Up until the split the USSR was more or less telling Mao how to run things, as they were with the better part of E. Europe, but, the Soviet style of socialism was not really compatible with the Chinese, in that the Soviet model relied heavily on urban industry and at the time China was mostly farmers and such. No state has ever had true communism anyway, just shades of dictator-led socialism. Socialism in and of it itself is not a bad thing, we, as Americans benefit greatly from a plethora of socialistic programs, including but definitely not limited to: Medicare to Social Security, to even our interstate highway system.
As for Putin, it'll be quite interesting to see what transpires in the coming years with him back at the helm (as if he ever left, right?). I'm glad you are informed though imnotlost =D. Just thought I'd throw a brief history lesson out there!
As an old North Korean intelligence analyst, I can tell you. The reason that North Korea is like it is is buried in the history of the Peninsula. Originally in Korea, before WWII, the north was very educated and industrialized and the south was more backwards and agriculture. But between the halves they were a pretty self-sufficient country. The Japanese pretty much looted the entire country, pushing it over the brink into a subsistence state. When the Korean War came, the north lost its breadbasket and became unable to feed itself. The south lost its industry but was able to reindustrialize rapidly, making the south once again a self-sufficient country. But the north had no way to "re-agriculturalize" and there is simply not enough arable land to feed the population. At first, the industry remaining after the Japanese occupancy, was enough to trade industrial goods for food. But, under inept Communist leadership, just as everywhere else, industry was allowed to rust and infrastructure was allowed to languish to support the military.
Now you have a completely self-sufficient and vibrant economy in the south and a feeble failed industrial state in the north. Everything in the north goes to support the leadership and the military because that is the only grasp on power that the leadership has left. Under Kim Il-Sung, there was a "carrot and stick" approach with lavish goods for top people and for "honors" and extermination camps for enemies and their families. But under Kim Song-Il, the extermination camps increased and the favors became Gucci knock-offs and fake Chinese Rolex's. It became pretty much all stick. Now under Kim Jong-Il, the freaful leader is trying to revive the leadership perks and give the people some snack foods and theme parks instead of bread and circuses ala Rome. It won't work because the basics of the country's economy has collapsed.
Even young and middle-aged people in the south don't really want reunification. They watched as East Germany and its failed industry and poorly-educated people and massive pollution became a major problem as West Germany tried to absorb them. North Korea is is far worse shape that East Germany ever was. At least East Germany could fead itself and didn't have 80% of the population presenting with malnutrition. Malnutrition is so bad in North Korea that it is estimated that the average North Korean is 15-25 IQ points lower than the average South Korean.
North Korea suffers from self-influcted economic and political wounds. If you don't believe it, look at Vietnam which had a surprisingly similar history.
Chris: I'm impressed. But please don't stop there. What's the answer? What can be done? Can this young boy pull North Korea back up?
How can the world help? And will NK allow us to help?
Chris has a fairly accurate description of the South-North Korea history over the past 100 years. It is, of course, much deeper but that would take a tome to explain. I can only add that the wily North Korean leadership under Kim Il Sung fairly quickly shelved the Russia/PRC 'commy' stuff and stoked up a 'pretender Family Royalty of the Kim Family which is much more 'feudal' than 'communistic'.
The 'focus' the their own 'big lie' of political doctrine became 'juche' which means 'self-reliance' and which is the North's internal & external political reasoning for not dealing or groveling with external countries perceived as being evil and bent on destroying the Kim faux dynasty.
We are now into the third generation of the Kims and to update Chris' commentary Kim Jong Il is dead and it's number 2 son Kim Jong Eun running the show via heavy handed training and guidance from his now deceased Father's Sister (who is quite old and sick) and her power-behind-the-faux throne Husband.
Anyhow, in closing my brief meandering I would opine that minus South Korean verification that two North officers are indeed proven dead at the hand of this 'defector'...well..... I would anticipate it's yet another North attempt to plant a spy in the South. ......yawn. I'm kinda betting that will be the eventual conclusion to this falderal.
Moeman & Chris: If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck...................You know the phrase.
C'mon guys, quit walking with the social analysts who think they know more than the historic facts in front of them. If the Soviet Union were a socialist or capitalist country would there have been long bread or meat lines? If China is the way you tout, what happened at Tiananmen Square? Would a capitalist govt do that to their citizens? If they actually did, would they have the ability to supress news leaks and the full truth of how horrible it was? I suggest you google difference between capitalism and communism.
Thanks for the history lesson.
better check up on your US history. specifically, the early days of the labor movement, where police were sent to attack striking workers, frequently killing them.
so, Yes, a "capitalist" country (US during the "guilded age")would indeed do that to its workers, a Democratic country (the US today) would not. (although the far right wants to return us to the day where the wealthy can treat the rest of us with impunity)
As you said, confused, it was the early days. I also recall skirmishes with the U.S. Army and strikers in W.Va. where a few were killed. Early days, that's the key phrase. It won't happen in this country again, in my opinion. If it does, it will be because the civilians fired first and often. Now look at the furor over the killing of a young protester a few years ago in Greece. That one sent a ripple well beyond their borders. Unacceptable in the free world. Under communism, it's standard procedure.
actually, I would say that it is extremism and authoritarianism of any stripe that is the true threat to freedom. a plutocracy or corporatacracy (either of which can occur under the heading of "capitalism")would be just as harmful as a government that controls the means of production (ie communism). in all cases a small handful control the means of livelihood and by extension, the freedom, of the vast majority
I dont think there IS any other way to leave North Korea.......
I read about one guy from North Korea who knocked his supervisors out cold and crawled under a long length of electrified fence then had to make his way through a minefield, all at night. A partner who went with him didn't make it past the fence. It really gave me an appreciation for risk some of these guys take. I have read though, that their families get punished in their stead for such betrayal. Hopefully this guy didn't have much of one.
Yes, this is seriously lacking in details.
I hope that you're right or that the family at least has the good sense to "disown" him, for whatever that may be worth.
Maybe Diana Ross's replacement, The Supreme Leader will go a little easier than dear old dad would have. We can only hope.
It's more interesting to see if the soldier made the story up or was it true and hail him as a Hero.
I don't think he could be called a hero, he was simply trying to escape a prison-like country. Self preservation is more like it.
This defector could have waited until the two Koreas become united.
Two lives got wasted unnecessarily.
Yeah he should have just waited until two countries that have been on the brink of war for 50 years made up. Just like all those Indian muslims waiting to patch things up with pakistan
Exactly what I was thinking...Well said superaverageguy.
henry von dork,
And those escaping east Germany should of just waited? A good commie is a dead commie.
The chances of the two Koreas being united in our lifetimes is very slim.
Even if political leadership in N. Korea changed and became tolerant of such an idea, the difficulties in uniting the north and south would be much more difficult than uniting east and west Germany after the cold war. It would take decades to truly unite the countries, when one is in the stone age and the other the space.
Heinrich VD.....you are out of touch with reality. Having lived in S. Korea for 30+ years, the soldier, and his offspring.....and their offspring.....very possibly would have lived and died before the 2 Koreas get together. S. Koreans are ready......and there will be plenty of problems created for the S. Koreans when the 2 Koreas become one. But, they are ready for it. They want it to happen. The N. Korean leadership and their followers are the problem. And, comments in the U.N. just this week, by the N. Korean ambassador, sad-to-say, says that not much has changed in the North, since the new Kim has taken control. So, saying that he should have waited, is not speaking with any knowledge of what is actually happening here, on the penninsula.
Wow Heinrich, you must have been taught historical and current events in a US school because you are way out of touch on that comment. There will be no unificaation fo many, many years to come. Time to get up to speed on history.
@Heinrich: And when would that be, the two Koreas uniting? My guess is just before the sun burns out. Guess the dude didn't have that kind of time and patience on his hands.
No wonder your comment was collapsed by the community - it was just a plainly stupid c omment!!!
The problem will be that if they don't return him the North will plant some guy in South Korea who will kill several South Koreans & then "defect" to North Korea.
Hi-jacking airplanes or killing people to defect cannot be encouraged.
Exactly what I was thinking...Well said superaverageguy.
when you've had enough......you do what you have to do.......this isnt political. its survival.
North Korea is the chithole of Asia. There's a title to be proud of.
he should of told his supervisors he was going to spy on the south...maybe he wouldn't have had to kill them...more fish head soup for those he left behind...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vBJIWQ5Ubg
What're you 5? You think soldiers routinely make decisions to go and spy on the enemy?
Someone smuggled him the PSY "Gangnam Style" video, performing in front of 80,000 people having the time of their lives and he couldn't take it anymore. He just wanted to dance!
I caught the end of a documentary about Germans doing pretty much the same thing to get out of the eastern bloc having to cross minefields, weapons fire and climate. It is disheartening to me that I've never heard a good story where North Korea was involved.
Right after they signed the treaty I ended up in Pusan. No large buildings mostly rubble. People lived in boxes or smashed buildings etc. Went into what was supposed to be an "American Bar", every port, town, village, berg, you name it had one. The bottles of booze on the shelves had a cloudy substance in the lower 1/3 or so. No one would touch the stuff.
About twenty five years later give or take I was waiting for my daughter at a hospital. I picked up a Readers Digest and opened it and saw a picture of this buitifull clean city. I then noticed the caption "Pusan Korea", all most crapped my pants. What a difference.
You think that's someething you should see Soul Korea.
Yeah, you should see Soul Korea. They have their own train. People just stand around and dance...
This guy will be treated like a hero and be given new clothes, money, a car, a nice place to live, a job, just like we do when a dissident from China or some other country comes here. Our Dissidents? Why heck, we spray them in the eyes with pepper spray and throw them in jail for being peaceful protestors.
South Korea has to be the most bland country ever, architecturally speaking. Pretty much the entire country had to be rebuilt after the Korean War, so there isn't a lot of throwbacks to the past.
Served three tours in South Korea first one 61-62,second 64-65 third 68-70. Went back on a twq week tour in 2011,didn't look like the same country.Only place that looked familar to me was a movie set that was used in movies set in the early 60s.The airport at Incheon was built on some small islands,with a lot of fill being used. The old airport at Gimpo(Kimpo)is still used mostly for in country flights,with a few to Toyko.That country has changed so much in the last 40-50 years that it is unbelieveable.
Just like Americans will soon be defecting across the Canadian or Mexican borders.
If Obama wins.
Especially all the millionaires with their money.
champagnesabre........In America no one needs to defect,we're free to come and go as we please.......But,go ahead and defect if you want to,just hope things don't change here and they won't let you back in..... now that would be funny!!!
You have your head in the sand cemc. You must pay an extortion fee to get rid of an american citizenship now.
Just one more way for the united corporations of america to screw everyone. The days are rapidly approaching where millions wished they had left america before the republican nazi party closed the door on leaving.
All of the years of Kim Jong-il's feudalism insteading of serving the people caused this.
This reminds me of the 3 North Korean guards at the main North Korean DMZ Border gate. One is looking to the south and the other two are watching him to make sure he doesn't leave.
That would make one cool movie if this event was that kind of sceanario.
Let's hope he is not an impostor "plant!" Hopefully they have some way to confirm if he is real or not!
If the part about the 2 dead North Koreans is true, it does give credibilty that he's not a North Korean Spy anyway.
What kind of imposter are you refering to anyway? If the North Koreans wanted to send out spys, they just give them a ticket out of town. No need to kill anyone.
Korea is not that big of a country and North Koreans are not much different than South Koreans. A lot of them are related too.
Both Koreas Combined are about the size of California with far less development and wealth. Imagine California Cut in half with North Korea in the North and South Korea south of the Monterey Bay. Thats about the land mass involved.
It's a country divided and the ethnic Koreans are not that divirsified near the border. It's about 1/10th of the culturual diversity that existed in the American civil war.
Correction, I meant "not much ethnic diversity between North and South Korea". The cultural diversity is vast between North and South Korea. Especially after all this isolation time.
As a Caucasian myself, I can barely tell the difference between a Korean and a Japanese vs Chinese or Filipino. And that took a lot of travelling ;) There is no way I can tell the difference between a North Korean and a South Korean. But I am sure they can to some degree :)
The more obvious 'differences' between North and South Koreans in recent years are 'stature' (how tall...the poor nourishment in the North makes them shorter if not 'stunted'. Also, the language or more accurately the 'accent' of the Northerner is different than folks in the South and the words they use are markedly different. So much so that real defectors to the South need to attend classes to get a grasp on Southern dialect which now includes many, many English words and slang. Also, technical jargon is near zero to a Northerner who has no exprience with common modern gadgets. On and on. It's not real hard for Northerns and Southerners to know who's who but for Americans....well they know not either so it mostly isn't possible.
One thing though....they ARE ONE PEOPLE and they know it. The 'one' Korea has suffered for so long by so many it is really a tragic story. However, they are Asian not jewish so there is no real holocaust museum or lobby within the Western World to grasp the Korean story. Such is life.
That's a great story to tell the grand kids.
I wonder how he avioded being brainwashed like the rest of them?
I don't think the people of North Korea are brainwashed. They're starving and living in fear of their government with little news of the outside world. Survival instincts. They're doing what they have to do.
Plenty of us made jokes here on NV about the penalties for not showing enough grief when pops died but shortly after, there were articles coming in showing that is exactly what happened. Very sad.
http://rt.com/news/north-korea-kim-grief-575/
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/11140952-why-the-north-koreans-cry
brainwashed - you funny man. I can read many things into this can't you?
I watch Monty Python movies for deprogramming.
Too bad it was only two of the little beady-eyed monsters.
It's like the opposite of the US's border with Mexico. NK doesn't want to keep people out, it shoots its own people if they try to LEAVE.
Imagine how bad things would have to get in the US before we had to build fences around the nation to keep us all imprisoned inside.
If Romney gets elected I'm defecting to Canada.
If These are your true colors... please leave now. This country does not need you.
CHRIS - WEST P.B.FLR. .........I Have been telling my wife the same thing all year , North Korea ,Iran , and other extreme People like Romney are actually " Agents of Satan " . Thad's just my opinion , My question for the Christian Right in this country is ..... When are they going to become Christians and stop backing people like Romney and the GOP .
I'm with you Chris. What idiot would want to stay in a country where the supreme leader believes in magic underwear. america is screwed up bad enough without a nutjob like romney getting his paws on the white house. The american dollar is much weaker against the Canadian dollar, but it will be worth it to get away from the masses of idiots following the mormon turd. tibi the dimwit is the perfect example of the brainswashed american turd that would follow a moron mormon.
Could not agree with you more Leslie Todd. Its refreshing to see someone has a brain in america. The mormon cult is filled with sick, demented, ignorant souls owned by Satan. Satan is having his way with america right now and its not a pretty sight. I don't give america much longer to survive at this rate. I can understand how another cult, the catholics (since catholics are NOT Christians) would back another cult freak like romney, but its hard to understand why any Christian would back a NON-Christian, and enemy of the cross, like romney. But you called it correctly, Satan was given dominion over his mormon minions and turds like romney, and that's the way things are shaping up. Judgement day will sort out all the cult freaks who are going to hell, and all the turds that followed them like lapdogs and turned their backs on Christ. Its a shame the mormons teach Jesus (GOD) is a brother of Satan. But then the mormons have all kinds of freaky teachings.
He had the opportunity and took it, I would've done the same thing. Hope he's safe and has a good life in South Korea.
30 years ago I asked my friend in Mexico, why Mexicans didn't rise up and fight back?
He told me it was because they were always kept hungry. All their time was spent trying to just survive. They were to weak to fight back.
I believe this is what is happenning in North Korea.
And probably what will be happening here in america very soon, especially if romney gets his stinking paws on the White House.
I guess we'll have to send them more food so they can afford to beef up their security.