South Korea. A defector from North Korea tried to return to North Korea on a stolen bus

South Korean police detained a young man on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday on the Unification Bridge (Tongil Bridge) separating the two Koreas. According to local media, this happened after the bus did not stop despite calls from soldiers patrolling the area and ultimately hit the barricades.

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The BBC reports that a man in his thirties stole the bus around 1 a.m. from a workshop in the city of Paju. Surveillance footage shows him trying to get into several vehicles until he finally manages to board the bus. He was arrested on the bridge half an hour later. The media indicates that he was sober.

The man, whose identity has not been publicly released, told police he wanted to return home to North Korea because he was experiencing difficulties in South Korea. He worked as a laborer in Paju and other cities, and had several fines that he could not pay. He allegedly escaped from North Korea about a decade ago. In South Korea, attempting to cross the border illegally is punishable by up to ten years in prison.

About 34 thousand North Koreans have fled to the South over the past 70 years, usually across the border Chinaand often in dangerous circumstances. However, returns to the regime ruled by Kim Jong Un are very rare. According to the authorities in Seoul, there were 31 such cases between 2012 and 2022, although it is believed that some others were not recorded.

Attempts to return result from the fact that some defectors from the North find that their life in South Korea is different from their expectations, they have problems finding their way in a completely different reality, or they are lonely and want to see their family members who remained in the North. .

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