From Yonhap News:
North Korea greets double defector couple…for the second time of this year
‘Sick of living in the South’…the North targets to secure the system
Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on the 8th (November) that a North Korean defector couple who had been living in the South for a while recently returned to the North.
KCNA also reported that the defectors, Kim Kwang-hyeok and Ko Jeong-nam, who had felt strongly disappointed with life in South Korea and went back to the North, gave a press conference at the People’s Palace of Culture in Pyongyang.
It is the second time that North Korean double-defectors have given a press conference since Kim Jong Un has come to power; on the 28th of June, Park Jeong-sook (known as Park In-sook in the South) was the first defector to do so.
To count Jeon Young-cheol in, whom allegedly got arrested for attempting to destroy statues of Kim Il Sung in July, it is the third time that the North holds a press conference for returned defectors.
According to the KCNA, ‘Kim Kwang-hyeok and Ko Jeong-nam illegally crossed the border to China in March and September 2008, respectively; they got dragged to the South under the coercion and manipulation of South Korean government agents,’ and added ‘Having lived miserable in the South, they felt deceived, which resulted in them returning to the North on the 12th of September.’
The couple reportedly first met in the South, after leaving North Korea separately; they got married in July 2009.
Mr Kim (27) was born in Musan-gun, Hamgyeong-bukdo. Due to financial strain, he moved to China where he met a guy in mid-thirties, saying ‘If you go to South Korea, you’ll be able to get proper treatment for diseases and earn money as much as you wish.’
And Ko (29) was born is Hongwon-gun, Southern Hamgyong-namdo. She said she was coerced by a broker when selling goods at Hamheung Market, leaving her with fantasies and curiosity of the South.
The couple’s two-year-old son also participated at the conference; Mr Kim seemed a little bit emotional, talking about his mother left behind in the South.
It is confirmed that a North Korean defector couple with the same name as the couple lived in South Korea.
An official at the Ministry of Unification said, ‘We’re working on finding facts around this incident.’
A North Korean defector residing in South Korea claimed that ‘Kim was a broker, travelling China back and forth,’ and ‘he may have been caught by the North Korean authorities.’
The North Korean regime may intend to secure the system by preventing the people from escaping, with the help of press conference that publicly condemns life in the South as unbearable.
Comments from Naver:
blan****:
‘North Korean defector couple went back to North Korea again’ sounds too complicated; let’s just say ‘spy couple returned to the North after their mission was accomplished.’
lee6****:
They’re spies! What the hell are those in the National Intelligence Service doing?! Ah, it’s not like we don’t have enough spies in the National Assembly.
eomh****:
Let’s get it straight. They’re ‘spies,’ not ‘defector couple.’
tjsr****:
It’s tough living in here, but I’m sure it’s much better than living in the North.
quic****:
Clear-minded defectors would never go back to the North. The regime might’ve promised to shower them with money under the premise to get crucial information out from South Korea. They don’t even operate under the shadow these days.. Politicians, watch out for policies toward North Korea. If you keep embracing the North with ‘unconditional love,’ we may get unconditionally swallowed by them.
baby****:
You wanna go back? You’ll learn your lesson when starved enough. Go and lick Kim Jong Un’s toe nails, you sons of bitches!
uzli****:
Livelihood in the South is not very good –- to earn your salary isn’t that easier than to worship the dear leader. If you North Koreans have fancied the idea of rice and meat stew falling from the sky in Southern part of the peninsula, STOP coming here. [‘Rice and meat stew’ is an old-fashioned Korean idiom meaning ‘luxurious food.’]
gwal****:
The government is being too generous on embracing North Korean defectors; who knows some of them would turn out to be spies? Over the course of the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations, we’re seeing significant increase in number of those defectors. Doesn’t it ring a bell? We must not let the Democratic United Party win this presidential election.
love****:
They may be defectors on the outside, but definitely spies on the inside.
zizi****:
Stop accepting North Korean defectors, they’re ungrateful! Spend the money for poor families and old people, rather than supporting commies.
joun****:
BTW, since when has it become so easy to go back and forth between the two Koreas?
0109****:
Send his mother to the North as well.. Those commie saekkis.. ㅡㅡ
nan0****:
This is bullshit ke ke I bet the North regime has orchestrated the whole thing to hopefully brainwash its people with the old propaganda of South Korea being a poor nation. ke ke ke Had they been genuinely defectors from the North, the regime would’ve executed them immediately. ke ke
ljhz****:
I guess it’s a part of the latest tactic of commies. How cunning they are! ke ke
rhxo****:
They must’ve had some sorta Cinderella Syndrome that South Koreans would somehow serve them like royals. But live in the North for a week, and you’ll start regretting and be like ‘What the hell was I thinking?’
thdd****:
They’re hundred per cent spies, period. How could the government just let them get away like this? They should be killed! This is why we don’t have to treat North Korea well.
ocea****:
When defectors come to the South, they’re automatically eligible for assistance from the government and support groups, helping them find jobs and settle down. The couple is such a shame on the defectors community. I’m pretty sure they’ve taken some sensitive information gathered here with them; they must be spies!!
durg****:
They sound like spies! That spy couple has been working in the South and went back to the North, feeling over-burdened with the child they gave birth to here. ㅡㅡ
gozl****:
They might’ve misunderstood that there’s such a thing as a free lunch—meat stew, perhaps.
cssw****:
Tell me, defector comrade. Did you eat ‘rice and meat stew’ in South Joseon or not? What?! You little son of a bitch, you didn’t even share it with us! Send these two to gulags! [Mimicking North Korean dialect; South Joseon means South Korea in the dialect.]
