The man’s plight shed new light on the lives of re-defectors and raised questions about whether they had received adequate support after making the dangerous journey from the impoverished, tightly controlled North to the wealthy, democratic South.
If your supposedly “wealthy, democratic” country can’t keep up with the supposedly “impoverished, tightly controlled” country in terms of extremely basic QoL improvements, you might be the baddies.
Sounds like he refused to spread lies for crazy money. :kim-salute:
This is just like in squid games
Literally one of the character in Squid Game
In North Korea, you struggle to survive as a waffish teenager barely able to feed herself.
But in South Korea, you can be a super model skinny run-away rebelling against strict parents.
Anyway, the important thing is that killing people is funny.
The re-defector was in his 30s and making a poor living while working as a janitor
…
“There’s a complex range of factors including longing for families left in the North, and emotional and economic difficulties that emerge while resettling,”
Hmm I wonder what could possibly be the most important factor in this case :curious-marx:
One of the main reasons you get these insane stories in the South Korean press about the North is becuase defectors are treated horribly in the South. Basically one of the only ways for defectors to get anywhere in South Korean society is to become a media guy and tell these obviously fake but headline grabbing stories.
north koreans living in the south are also basically prohibited from saying anything positive about the dprk to any media outlet. there was recently a “defector” who was persecuted for sharing personal letters from her north korean family on social media…
edit: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-defector-idUSKBN29D16S
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean prosecutors have indicted a North Korean defector who wants to return home on charges of violating a national security law, her lawyer told Reuters.
Kim Ryen Hi, 51, drew international attention in 2015 when she pleaded for deportation, saying she had been tricked by a broker and never intended to leave her homeland. She even reported herself to police as a spy and tried to forge a passport, which brought a suspended prison sentence. . . .
But last week, prosecutors indicted Kim on charges of breaching the National Security Act on several counts, including plotting to escape to North Korea, which the law stipulates as an “anti-government organisation that threatens the existence and security” of the nation or its free democratic order.
A copy of the indictment, which was not made public, was seen by Reuters.
Kim was also accused of possessing and distributing material that praised the North by posting its state media articles and letters from her family on social media.
Weird how I can’t find any discussion of this incident on :reddit-logo:
She even reported herself to police as a spy and tried to forge a passport, which brought a suspended prison sentence. . . .
Holy shit!
It’s not just North Korean defectors - as far as I’m aware, the prohibition of saying anything positive about DPRK applies to everyone living in South Korea, though North Koreans are obviously the most discriminated against with this law. :deeper-sadness:
but muh :freeze-peach:
I haven’t seen the hit Netflix show squid game, but apparently there’s a scene where someone asks a dprk defector if it’s better in the south than the north and they just don’t answer which implies it may have been better in the north in her opinion which is like as close as you can get to saying something “good” about the dprk
Is this the same person from the loyal citizens of Pyongyang video?
Or is this story just a common one? The KCIA and the brokers seem to be absolutely awful to anyone from the North and will essentially kidnap and imprison them if they manage to find them anywhere outside DPRK (China).
yeah, i believe it’s the same woman
Was he even an actual “defector”, or was he just a victim of human trafficking who wasn’t allowed to go home like so many others?
Probably a
russiansleeper agent spy who stole intelligence on how to make McDonald’s big macs to appease his Supreme leaders hunger in order to prevent another famine caused by Kim Jong-Il’s absurdly large spoon
