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North Korean defector in South stole bus in bid to return home, media reports say (www.voanews.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

36 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A North Korean defector living in South Korea was detained on Tuesday after ramming a stolen bus into a barricade on a bridge near the heavily militarized border, in an apparent attempt to get back to the North, Yonhap news agency reported.

The incident took place at around 1:30 a.m. (16:30 GMT on Monday) at the Tongil Bridge in Paju, northwest of the capital Seoul, after the man ignored warnings from soldiers guarding the bridge and attempted to drive through, Yonhap said, citing city police.

Paju police referred queries on the incident to provincial police authorities. The northern Gyeonggi police agency could not be reached for comment.

The man aged in his 30s who had defected more than a decade ago told police that he was trying to return to North Korea after struggling to settle in the South, the report said.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Don't understand this. If he comes back to the North, he would be tortured&executed with his family. If living in SK is that terrible isn't easier to just unalive themselves?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Source?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago

Source for what, the executions? It's the North Korean government itself, since those are public

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If he comes back to the North, he would be tortured&executed with his family.

Are you basing this statement on anything other than your impression that the North Korean regime is cruel for the sake of being cruel, and everyone in the military and government is incompetent?

It might be true, but it's also possible that the North Koreans would use it as the obvious propaganda coup it is and send him on speaking tours all over the country/world.

It's also quite possible that he's mentally unwell and isn't making rational choices. Or that he's trying to escape an abusive situation.

Don't get me wrong, the North Korean government is not good, I'm just saying that the assumption he'll be tortured and executed underestimates them.

PS. When you say "comes back" it means that you are in that place. So your sentence implies that you're in North Korea. I'm sure you meant "goes back".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Well, they don't appear to use them as propaganda. When Travis T. King crossed the border, they arrested him and not used as propaganda "see? He hated SK and USA so much"

Same for Otto warmbier, instead of "see? After he saw our wonderful country, he wanted to take a piece of propaganda back home to always remember us" he was arrested, tortured and sent back dead.

I do not recall any situation when they used something like this as positive propaganda instead of a public execution

When they did that experiment on YouTube showing how wonderful is life in north Korea (if you're a daughter of the elite), it lasted until it suddenly went like "Winston Smith never existed"