At the beginning of October, a 30-year-old man from North Korea He tried unsuccessfully to return to his country by the same route he used to escape in 2011. He was detained south of the demilitarized zone, which is the border between the countries and guarded by soldiers on both sides.
“The fugitive was in a very bad place difficult economic situation as a construction worker and missed his family who still lived up north. He will be charged with violating national security laws,” South Korean police said.
North Korean defectors trying to return
The 30-year-old's case is not an isolated one. Every year dozens of refugees escape from… North Korea tries to return despite the care provided and numerous implementation programs.
In 2022, Kim Woo-jung, a 29-year-old former North Korean gymnast who worked for a cleaning company in the South, returned to the North via the same route he had fled 14 months earlier. He managed to bypass security checkpoints in the demilitarized zone and jump over barbed wire fences.
Han Foundationone of the most popular organizations helping refugees adapt to the new reality, lists several reasons for such decisions: longing for family, problems with adaptation, or debts to intermediaries who organized the escape. The organization calculates that up to one in five refugees suffers from mental problems.
North Korea. A surprising report
Due to the fact that after escaping to South Korea everyone receives citizenship there, attempts to return are difficult and severely punished. Only 31 people have done it in the last decade. At the same time, more than 10 thousand fugitivesand since the end of the war more than three times as much.
Some escapees take advantage of the opportunity and start public and even political activities. One of the most famous people who did this is Park Choong-kwon. He was one of the scientists working on the ballistic missile program for Kim Jong Una. After defecting, he joined current South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's conservative party and serves in parliament as an MP.