[quote]SEOUL – A North Korean defector and activist –– who has spent more than a decade in Seoul –– plans to publicly defect back to the North in order to highlight poor treatment of refugees who try to integrate into life in South Korea.
Son Jong-hun knows that harsh punishment awaits, and that what remains of his family will condemn his decision to leave for South Korea. However, 11 years after escaping, Son told NK News in an exclusive interview published today that he feels his options have become limited:
“Compared to the political effect and benefits that could be gained from my re-defection, my life is not very important,” Son said. “I want to send a strong yet refreshing message to South Korea.”
Mr. Son, a former Northern official-turned-activist for defectors, is going through the legal channels to return after despairing over treatment of North Korean refugees. In his decade south of the border, South Koreans have shown no sincere interest in reunification or in properly treating defectors who often risk their lives to resettle, he told NK News.
Son accumulated a variety of experience, working both at a trading company under the Northern government’s umbrella and as a lobbyist for an aborted effort to boost ties between North Korea and Taiwan. Still, he said a lack of a personal network and refusal to recognize his experience here resulted in being able to do little other than work in low-paying activism, and raising awareness of defector human rights.
But Son is angered by more than his own misfortune.
“Why did I come to a land where my human rights are not respected?” he told NK News.
HOW TO RE-DEFECT
“In recent years, the North Korean human rights law that has been in the works from the Korean government has made no progress. Even in the U.S. and Japan North Korean human rights laws have been passed. Korean people and the government seem to turn away from the problems in North Korea. This shows how decadent and lousy the South Korean governmental system is.
“There is no further work that can be done to improve the lives of North Koreans in South Korea,” he said. “South Koreans see reunification as a burden for them: it means more taxation.”
Son said he wants to proceed through legal channels in returning to the North, but the Southern government has detained him since his intent was reported in mid-July. The Ministry of Unification has told him he can only be sent back if the North formally invites him to return, so instead he plans to formally renounce his citizenship through the Ministry of Justice.
If successful, he would then be deported as a stateless person, then able to return to the North.
Son fled to the South after the he was ousted from his job at a government-owned trading company for a seemingly innocuous comment about foreign nations’ military technology during an office party. He then spent three months imprisoned in harsh conditions after efforts to broker closer relations with Taiwan were abandoned.
Although Mr. Son is still no lover of the Northern political system –– his brother was executed after his escape –– he believes his re-entry into the country would focus media attention on them, thus putting them in a difficult spot too.
“The North Korean government would have to prove my wellbeing, thereby showing international society whether this nation is a legitimate one that safeguards human rights for its people, whether it is truly a nation that is fit for people to live in,” he said.
“The North Korean government would feel angry and betrayed over my defection, but my career and knowledge acquired in South Korea would be of benefit to the North Korean government. So I don’t think they would kill me right away.”
Additional reporting by Rob York and James Pearson in Seoul. Headline image: NK News.
[url]http://www.nknews.org/2013/07/exclus...ng-to-n-korea/[/url][/quote]
Interesting stuff he has to say about living in South Korea.
[editline]9th August 2013[/editline]
Press Image of Son Jong-hun.
[img]http://www.nknews.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/son-jong-hun-north-korean-defector-redefecting-north-korea.jpg[/img]
I can't see this ending well.
[QUOTE=FunnyStarRunner;41777257]I can't see this ending well.[/QUOTE]
you don't say
I can hear the gun being loaded for when he arrives back.
Link in the OP got chopped up and its a pain to edit that post, reposting.
[url]http://www.nknews.org/2013/07/exclusive-defector-plans-to-send-message-by-returning-to-n-korea/[/url]
[editline]9th August 2013[/editline]
A continued article about the same person where he explains his reasoning.
[url]http://www.nknews.org/2013/07/meet-the-man-who-plans-to-re-defect-back-to-north-korea/[/url]
[quote]“The South Korean government is not interested in the people’s well-being”
No one knows what will happen to them in the future. So you may one day be caught in tough situations, therefore you shouldn’t ridicule those who are suffering now. Therefore, the message I want to send is that the people and government are not interested in the nation’s future and well-being but are busy trying to reap the benefits for themselves. The North Korean government, in response, says that if there is constant internal conflict (in South Korea), this is a sign of internal destruction and doom. The government (of the South) is not interested in the people’s well-being. The government should improve the economy for ordinary people and should provide a hopeful vision for the future. They aren’t living for the people but only for themselves. Seeing this, I feel angry and, at the same time, disappointed.[/quote]
[QUOTE=FunnyStarRunner;41777257]I can't see this ending well.[/QUOTE]
I don't think NK will kill him. More likely they will keep him alive and use him for propaganda purposes.
Like, it's a fucking godsend if you get some genuine defector who returns and goes "South Korea is terrible to North Koreans".
no way this dude is dying when he gets back to North Korea
he is going to get a fucking parade or something
They won't kill him, he will be used to show North Koreans why not to defect. This has happened before.
Well they probably already sent the rest of his family to the camps when he defected 10 years ago, so what more can they do besides kill him?
A few US soldiers went there too, during the Korean war right? They got godly lives and run propaganda departments.
[QUOTE=Elfy;41778817]A few US soldiers went there too, during the Korean war right? They got godly lives and run propaganda departments.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn't say godly. They were nothing more than celebrities, starring in propaganda films that were meant to display how bad foreigners were. But behind the scenes they always had handlers and and were force-fed juche ideology via indoctrination sessions that lasted years before the government deemed them able to live "on their own" as the north koreans did. but in reality they always had someone in the next room listening in on them
[QUOTE=PassTheBong;41779384]I wouldn't say godly. They were nothing more than celebrities, starring in propaganda films that were meant to display how bad foreigners were. But behind the scenes they always had handlers and and were force-fed juche ideology via indoctrination sessions that lasted years before the government deemed them able to live "on their own" as the north koreans did. but in reality they always had someone in the next room listening in on them[/QUOTE]
What the hell is this bullshit? Source?
[QUOTE=restinpiss;41791775]What the hell is this bullshit? Source?[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/20/60minutes/main959455.shtml[/url]
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Robert_Jenkins[/url]
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joseph_Dresnok[/url]
[quote]"Why did I come to a land where my human rights are not respected?" he told NK News.[/quote]
Then going back to NK sure is an awesome idea
Who the actual fuck would go back to NK after escaping? That's like being wrongfully imprisoned and returning to jail after escaping.
North Korea's going to publicly celebrate his return while secretly abusing him.
They'll counter his public display with one of their own. It's what they're good at.
[quote]Son fled to the South after the he was ousted from his job at a government-owned trading company for a seemingly innocuous comment about foreign nations’ military technology during an office party.[/quote]
I can imagine he uttered a joke he thought was [i]really funny[/i]. Then got stared down with inevitable steel silence.
[i]"oh shit"[/i]
Cutting off the nose to spite the face
Actually, you know, thinking about it he might actually get a good life out of this, since it's really helping their "Best Korea" charade. It's not like any of the NK citizens will actually give a shit, they'll probably think he's retarded (NK's government's propaganda is increasingly failing to sway the younger populace) but he'll still get treated nice just to stick it to everyone else.
He's doing it to prove a point to both Koreas, and the world. He isn't doing this because he prefers NK.
What if NK refuses to take him back due to the publicity of what he is trying to prove? I could see them just denying him entry to save face
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
