North Korean soldier defector wants to study law
The North Korean soldier who defected to South Korea under a hail of bullets last month has said he craves a chocolate snack and wants to get a law degree, according to reports in local media.
Channel-A TV station fully named the defector for the first time as Oh Cheong Seong (25) and identified him as the son of a high-ranking military police official, according to a member of the parliamentary committee on national defense.
“The soldier-defector is the son of a North Korean military police official with a rank equivalent to a South Korean lieutenant colonel,” the lawmaker said, quoted in the Korea Herald. It remains unclear whether the man is still serving in that position.
Oh defected to South Korea on November 13, crossing the demarcation line in the highly guarded Joint Security Area (JSA), the only part of the 160-mile demilitarized zone (DMZ) border area in which soldiers from the two countries face each other. CCTV footage showed him being chased by his former comrades, who shot him several times, causing him life-threatening injuries.
Thanks to the efforts of U.S. medics and South Korean doctors, Oh survived and recovered consciousness. Doctor Lee Cook-jong, one of South Korea’s leading trauma surgeons, carried out Oh’s treatment and described the former soldier as a “pretty nice guy” who enjoys K-pop, American movies and TV series. Doctor Lee told a local radio show on Friday the defector is now doing well enough to eat porridge, but he’s asking for more solid food, including a South Korean-made chocolate-covered, marshmallow-filled snack that is popular in North Korea.
[Newsweek]
This entry was posted in Humanitarian Aid and Relief, North Korean refugee by Grant Montgomery.
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6 references to “North Korean soldier defector wants to study law”
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[…] was badly shot by North Koreans,” Lee said, reliving the complex chain of events that brought North Korean defector Oh Chong Song to his trauma unit on November 13. “His vital signs were so unstable, he was dying of low […]
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[…] escape follows a similar one last month, in which another North Korean soldier was shot by his colleagues as he successfully fled his DMZ posting. In that case, South Korean border guards who heard the gunshots found the soldier 55 yards from […]
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[…] North Korean soldier who made a desperate dash across the border in November escaped after causing a person’s death, a South Korean newspaper reported Tuesday, quoting an […]
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[…] his first interview since his defection last November, Oh Chong-song told Japanese and South Korean media that he’s a “new person with a new name” in […]
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[…] an NBC News Exclusive, the North Korean soldier who made a desperate dash for freedom and made headlines around the world, is speaking out in his […]
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[…] While dozens of people escape North Korea every year, defections across the DMZ are extremely dangerous and rare. In November 2017, a North Korean soldier was shot at 40 times by his fellow troops as he crossed the zone, but lived to fulfill his escape. […]
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Concerning this defector’s desire for “South Korean-made chocolate-covered, marshmallow-filled snack that is popular in North Korea”, his dreams came true after he was given free Choco Pies for life! Orion Confectionery, which produces Choco Pies, said it would gladly provide its popular snack to the soldier. The 25-year-old was just sent his first 100 boxes of the pies from the company. (The Choco Pie consists of chocolate, a graham cracker crust and marshmallow filling. The term “choco pie” originated in America, but the sugary snack is also called “choco pie” in places like Japan and South Korea. It it also known as a Wagon Wheel, an angel pie and a MoonPie.)