ID :
86534
Wed, 10/28/2009 - 10:27
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/86534
The shortlink copeid
S. Korean man defects to N. Korea: Pyongyang
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean man has defected to North Korea through the heavily armed land border between the two divided states, fulfilling his "longing" for the communist neighbor, Pyongyang's official media said Tuesday.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it found "barbed wires cut open"
at the border through which the 30-year-old man, identified as Kang Dong-lim by
the North, may have defected.
Defections from the capitalist South to the North are rare. The JCS said in the
statement that Kang has been on a police wanted list since Sept. 25 for a beating
incident earlier that month.
The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a report seen earlier in
Seoul that Kang crossed the eastern side of the Demilitarized Zone on Monday.
Kang "is now under the warm care of a relevant organ," the KCNA said. "He is
pleased with the accomplishment of his desire for defection."
"During the military service he made several attempts to defect owing to his
longing for the northern half of Korea, but in vain," it said. Two years of
military service is mandatory in South Korea.
A JCS official who spoke on customary condition of anonymity confirmed that the
man had once served on the army base identified in the report.
According to the KCNA, Kang raised pigs on a farm in South Korea's southwestern
region after quitting his job at a Samsung-affiliated semiconductor company.
Samsung Electronics Co. said Kang's name was not immediately found on its list of
former workers.
The JCS said Kang had served from 2001-2003 at the border army base where the
damaged barbed wires were found.
While about 17,000 North Koreans have come to the South, mostly via China since
the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, South Koreans have rarely sought to
enter the impoverished neighbor.
A 45-year-old South Korean man made it into the communist neighbor through the
border between North Korea and China in 2007, but was expelled for reasons yet to
be identified.
Last month, a 54-year-old man received a suspended prison term in South Korea for
trying to defect to Pyongyang through a North Korean embassy earlier this year.
In March, a 40-year-old Japanese man apparently suffering from mental illness was
taken into custody after trying to cut his way through barbed wires bisecting the
Koreas.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean man has defected to North Korea through the heavily armed land border between the two divided states, fulfilling his "longing" for the communist neighbor, Pyongyang's official media said Tuesday.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it found "barbed wires cut open"
at the border through which the 30-year-old man, identified as Kang Dong-lim by
the North, may have defected.
Defections from the capitalist South to the North are rare. The JCS said in the
statement that Kang has been on a police wanted list since Sept. 25 for a beating
incident earlier that month.
The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a report seen earlier in
Seoul that Kang crossed the eastern side of the Demilitarized Zone on Monday.
Kang "is now under the warm care of a relevant organ," the KCNA said. "He is
pleased with the accomplishment of his desire for defection."
"During the military service he made several attempts to defect owing to his
longing for the northern half of Korea, but in vain," it said. Two years of
military service is mandatory in South Korea.
A JCS official who spoke on customary condition of anonymity confirmed that the
man had once served on the army base identified in the report.
According to the KCNA, Kang raised pigs on a farm in South Korea's southwestern
region after quitting his job at a Samsung-affiliated semiconductor company.
Samsung Electronics Co. said Kang's name was not immediately found on its list of
former workers.
The JCS said Kang had served from 2001-2003 at the border army base where the
damaged barbed wires were found.
While about 17,000 North Koreans have come to the South, mostly via China since
the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, South Koreans have rarely sought to
enter the impoverished neighbor.
A 45-year-old South Korean man made it into the communist neighbor through the
border between North Korea and China in 2007, but was expelled for reasons yet to
be identified.
Last month, a 54-year-old man received a suspended prison term in South Korea for
trying to defect to Pyongyang through a North Korean embassy earlier this year.
In March, a 40-year-old Japanese man apparently suffering from mental illness was
taken into custody after trying to cut his way through barbed wires bisecting the
Koreas.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
