Taeyoungho "Sudden Landing in Hell"... The Future of Defected US Soldiers

"North Korea's US Embarrassment: Both Boon and Burden"
"Mainly Used by English Teachers, Translation, and Anti-American Films"

Former North Korean diplomat and People Power Party lawmaker Tae Young-ho said that the U.S. military soldier stationed in South Korea who illegally defected to North Korea while touring the Panmunjom Joint Security Area (JSA) will face "the beginning of a 'hellish crash landing' starting today."

In a post on Facebook on the 19th, Tae said, "We do not know the reason for the defection, but after a few days, he will quickly realize that he made a wrong choice," adding, "A person who lived in a free society would find it suffocating due to excessive control even if they entered North Korea as a tourist for a few days, so a defecting U.S. soldier would start a life of detention from the first day, which would be maddening."

The South Korean military is on duty at Panmunjom, Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do. March 3, 2023.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Tae predicted that repatriating the defecting U.S. soldier would not be easy. He said, "North Korea will be pleased that this defection incident occurred on the day the South Korea-U.S. Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) held its first meeting and the U.S. strategic nuclear submarine (SSBN) visited South Korea, which could embarrass the U.S. military," adding, "Even if the soldier requests North Korea to send him back, it is uncertain whether they will comply."

He then referred to past cases of U.S. soldiers defecting to North Korea, saying, "There have been cases where Americans who illegally entered North Korea through the North Korea-China border were sent back, but a voluntarily defecting U.S. soldier is an incident of voluntarily surrendering to the enemy in a 'technical state of war,' so it will not be easy to send him back," he speculated.

However, Tae said that from North Korea's perspective, the presence of a defecting U.S. soldier is a "headache." He explained, "If there is a U.S. soldier, a specialized security and surveillance team must be formed for that one person, an interpreter assigned, and a dedicated vehicle and driver, as well as accommodation, must be arranged."

He added that if the U.S. soldier remains in North Korea, issues such as education for adapting to the North Korean system, employment, and marriage will also arise, saying, "Taking care of one defecting U.S. soldier requires a lot of manpower and funds."

Tae said that U.S. soldiers remaining in North Korea are used as English teachers, translators, or appear in anti-American propaganda films. However, he said they live a restricted life to the extent that they cannot even travel abroad or go alone to the city or stores. He said, "North Korea is strongly opposing the South Korea-U.S. policy toward North Korea, so the possibility of immediately sending back the defecting U.S. soldier is low, but the U.S. should negotiate repatriation for his human rights."

Meanwhile, there have been past cases of U.S. soldiers defecting to North Korea. The U.S. Department of Defense previously identified that six U.S. soldiers stationed in South Korea defected to North Korea between 1962 and 1982.

The last case of a U.S. soldier defecting from the U.S. military stationed in South Korea was Joseph White, who served as a private in the U.S. Army 2nd Division and crossed the Military Demarcation Line to defect in 1982. North Korea notified his family three years later, in 1985, that White had drowned while swimming in a river.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.