North Korean defector video
Stars & Stripes released the video of a North Korean soldier, known only as Oh, who made his escape from the hermit kingdom last week. He was shot five times by his former comrades. The most dramatic part of the adventure is when two South Korean soldiers crawl out to rescue the wounded defector and drag him to safety.
The [United Nations Command] said its investigation found that the North Koreans violated the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War as they tried to stop the soldier, who was severely wounded by the gunfire.
Doctors said Wednesday he has regained consciousness and is enjoying watching television, including movie and music channels.
The soldier’s daring escape in the truce village of Panmunjom was a major embarrassment for North Korea, which is locked in a tense standoff with the United States over its development of banned nuclear weapons.
“The key findings of the special investigation team are that the [North Korean army] violated the armistice agreement by one, firing weapons across the [Military Demarcation Line], and two, by actually crossing the MDL temporarily,” Army Col. Chad Carroll, a UNC spokesman, said at a press conference.
According to doctors, Oh is recovering nicely after a number of surgeries and immersing himself in CSI reruns and K-pop videos. Doctors also report that Oh had a foot-long parasite living in him and a number of other diseases, including Hepatitis C which reveals health problems among even the cultural elites in the North Korean military.
Category: North Korea
That escalated.
Think the NORKS SOG got fired?
I’d like to see the Officer of the Day, please.
-Fatty Kim
That is not anywhere near the story I read yesterday! It said he was shot once not 5 times and that the other wounds were from parasites and that he was full of worms and parasites and died?? Hell of a note when you can’t find the truth anywhere anymore!!
Likely fired upon, after a hasty trial.
His family as well.
Yea. Likely all involved who couldn’t stop Oh got fired. Along with their families. Applaud the dude who escaped for risking the slim chance of success, but unfortunately it’s likely a lot of people either already have, or are going to soon pay the price for his freedom. Hadn’t thought of that aspect when I posted earlier. A rather dark conundrum.
One could only hope that he had no family.
Even taking that out of the equation, Fatty Kim’ da turd is likely to have his entire platoon, the officers up to Regimental levels and their families lined up a Platoon and officers who are going to fill in.
“As you are, they once were, as they are you may someday be.”
That’s how it works in hell holes like that.
Out of what?
I’m surprised they didn’t just bail too though.
IMHO there’s only a very slim chance of that, the KPA puts only their most thoroughly brainwashed Troops up there.
That and knowing that in the best case scenario, that if you do get out your entire extended family from Grandparents to second cousins will be rounded up and put in work camps, and probably executed.
Along with anyone in your unit that was on duty or they thought was close to you.
And your little dog too… if they haven’t ate it.
This is the same desperate act as Conrad Schuman’s leap to freedom at Checkpoint Charlie in 1961, and the East German soldier climbing the fence on Jonn’s patrol of the East/West German border.
You are willing to risk everything for freedom.
I’ve listened to the stories of a fellow Scouter who was a little girl in the Russian-occupied territory, as she and her brother made their way to the US-held territory.
I’ve also recorded on video the stories of my aunt, who was a little girl in what is now Poland, then in Berlin during and after the war.
Risking their lives to be free – as children.
It is proof positive of American exceptionalism. People are willing to risk death to flee communism, and are willing to risk death to enter America.
God bless the U.S.A.
Damn straight!
Your post reminds me of the Jewish communities of 19th century Europe who referred to America as the ‘goldene medina’ – Yiddish for ‘golden land’.
See, here: https://perryjgreenbaum.blogspot.com/2012/07/goldene-medina.html
Back in my first journey through college, I met a lady formerly of the Soviet Union. (Their Far East – Siberia) She told the story of her first clear memory from childhood, of her father being angry and stomping in the snow. In a really cold winter, with both a sustained hard freeze and significant snowfall, the mines at the border were mostly inoperable. On Christmas, the guards were blind drunk. If you could get the timing right, with all three events, it was possible in places to overcome wire fence obstacles and simply walk out of the Soviet-controlled zone. So her father did his recon, and found the spot,and scheduled a trip in the suitable season. After a few tries, he hit the trifecta. She remembers him stomping in the snow. At the time, she thought he was mad at her. She was later told he was always at least 100 meters ahead of them, stomping hard to set off any mines that were not frozen. That shrewd and brave man got his family out, risking his life to do so. They walked to freedom in her father’s large and well-packed footsteps. She wound up marrying a US serviceman, and was trying her best to have at least 6 sons, every one of which she would demand to enlist. The also worked to get relatives out. She tells the story of getting one grandmother out. Shortly after she arrived, the took her to the grocery store, one of the big ones. She walked int he doors,and saw the produce section. She broke down in tears, weeping aloud. It was more fresh produce than she had seen in her entire life, a bounty such as no Kommisar would ever see even in the “special” stores. She though she was dead, and literally in -Heaven-. It was only much later that she was persuaded that this was merely the USA, and an ordinary grocery store. She then feared arrest for going in the “wrong” store, which was clearly for the senior elite. …. Most folks here have -no- idea what is… Read more »
But, the Soviet Union didn’t have any borders with a free country in Siberia.
You sure it wasn’t on the border with Finland?
My high school Russian teacher and her husband escaped a Siberian gulag – they made it across 3000 miles, including in winter, to escape to the West.
It was a multi-year escape effort. The lady was in no way Slavic, so her father was -extraordinary- in getting work closer to the east/west border, and travel and vacation permission even closer.
Good thinking on the Finland / USSR border. It was relatively porous. There were others. Also, the further back you go, the less obstacle at the borders.
And then a generation or two later totally forget that. 🙁
Most of the teachers at DLI were native speakers, which for most of the Communist countries meant they had fled to the west by whatever means available. One had come out folded under a phony car back seat, one notable one was sandwiched under a plywood shell built to look like a tank’s exterior which was bracketed onto a tracked vehicle like a dozer. They bet their lives that no guard would waste bullets shooting rifle rounds at a tank.
Blue falcon alert. All those dudes are now dead. Hope the movie channel was worth it.
I really hope you’re wrong, but…your gut seems pretty solid.
The only hope to the contrary in my book is he had a vehicle and probably was not a squad mate of the guys attempting to stop him.
And if word got out about all of them facing a firing squad, it could cause internal security issues that might not be worth it. And the Norks are no slouches when it comes to internal security, CI, and related fields.
They were dead men with or without the video.
It’s the Norks,,, if a “prisoner” escapes the guards are executed by the guards who are replacing them.
“I risked life and limb to escape the horrors of Capitalism” said NO sane person EVER.
You don’t have to qualify it with “sane”.
Every dude that went over to the Soviets just took a flight there. There was nobody shooting at them, or trying to stop them.
All right Yeffy-poo, how often have WE seen Americans risking life and limb on a ramshackle raft trying to get to Cuba since we saw an end to the commie hippie fleabags who hijacked airliners there in the 60s? If Capitalism is THAT bad then where are the exoduses of the oppressed heading to the “Worker’s Paradises” of Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea?
What the hell are you talking about?
Did you eat a cat?
I was just saying that it is easy to go to a communist country, but nobody does it, because communism doesn’t work.
API, chill out! He’s agreeing with you!
I’m fascinated by NK. Recently was reading about the black market DVD trade. They risk prison and/or execution for being in possession of unauthorized DVD players.
Watching that video –
It would be great to be able to cross reference more than one video feed if available.
I wonder how hard his fellows were actually trying to hit and/or kill him, based on the range of engagement, weapons, etc. combined with the fact that he actually survived.
I can easily see a stone cold solution on the lower back becoming a pointed as opposed to aimed burst at the back of the legs, and so on.
And what were his fellows really thinking in the aftermath? More than once was probably thinking to himself ‘I should have grabbed him and crossed with him’.
As for our newest little brother, can you imagine the culture shock? No idea on S. Korea and Thanksgiving, but can you imagine a guy who had to farm several months out of the year as a Soldier to avoid starvation, and then he’s given a Turkey Day dinner and it’s explained that what he’s been given is basically ‘the norm’ for every man, woman, and child in South Korea?
Happy Turkey Day, newest little brother, and in case I don’t ‘see’ you all happy Thanksgiving too all my fellow inmates at TAH. I hope you are with family if at all possible.
NCO I had at Tech School had been stationed at Camp Red Cloud. Don’t know if the story is true. He said they had a NK defector who was brought to Seoul for debrief. He looked out the window and said something like “you didn’t have to bring every car in South Korea here to impress me”. Had never seen that many cars in his life, and it was an ordinary day is Seoul.
As for your first point about well aimed shots, the average NK citizen is so brainwashed, I’m sure they were trying to kill him. The soldiers on the DMZ are supposed to be the best of the best. Nothing would make your career like being the one to take down a traitor.
Here’s some NK Defectors eating BBQ, go to about 7:15-7:20 for their descriptions of North Korean food.
I haven’t been this grateful to live in this wonderful country in some time. BBQ, the ultimate perfection of existence.
The culture shock and adjustment are significant, but there is support available in South Korea. There is also a large population of North Koreans defectors in the south. Perhaps most difficult, he’ll have to live with the fact that his family in NK will be punished for his defection.
South Korea Thanksgiving was in October this year, but I’m sure he’ll be eating a lot better than where he was, perhaps after he finishes the anti-worm medications. I’m really happy to learn he’ll survive.
And kudos to the troops in the JSA, that could have ended horribly.
Watching the two RKO troops crawl to get him was impressive. The one, grabbed him from a low crawl and pulled him like he was only a small ruck sack. I know what adrenaline can do but man, that guy was stout.
I remember seeing Panmunjom when I was there, each side puts their biggest and baddest up there. Most of the ROK Troops look like they’ve eaten their Wheaties and done their time in the weight room while most of the KPAs are as stout as a beanpole.
I saw in an article the defector was approximately 5’5″ and weighed about 135. From what I gathered, he wasn’t a border guard, he was an officer’s driver, which is how he got access to the vehicle.