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South Korean defectors are South Korean citizens who have defected to North Korea. Such defections are considerably less frequent than defections by North Koreans to South Korea.
Contents
- Background
- Aftermath of the Korean War
- Double defectors
- Contemporary South Korean born defectors
- List of notable defectors
- References
After the Korean War, 333 South Korean prisoners of war detained in North Korea chose to stay in the country. During subsequent decades of the Cold War, some people of South Korean descent defected to North Korea as well. They include Roy Chung, a former U.S. Army serviceman who defected to North Korea through East Germany in 1979. In cases of some disappearances of South Koreans, abduction by North Korea has been accused.
Occasionally, North Koreans who have first defected to South Korea want to return. Because South Korea does not allow naturalized citizens to travel to the North, these people have to make their way back into their home country illegally and become "double defectors". Out of some 25,000 North Korean defectors living in South Korea 800 are missing, some of them due to defecting back to the North. In the first half of 2012 alone there were 200 cases of such double defectors, although officially the South Korean Ministry of Unification recognizes only 13.
Background
The propaganda value of defectors has been recognized even right after the Division of Korea in 1945. Defectors were used as tools to prove the superiority of the political system of the country of destination.
North Korean propaganda has targeted South Korean soldiers patrolling at the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
Aftermath of the Korean War
In total, 357 prisoners of war detained in North Korea after the Korean War wished to stay in North Korea instead of being repatriated to their home countries. These people included 333 South Koreans, 23 Americans, and a Briton. Eight South Koreans and two Americans changed their minds later. The exact number of these prisoners of war held by North Korea and China has been disputed, however, due to unaccounted South Korean soldiers, since 1953.
During the Cold War, several U.S. Army servicemen defected to North Korea. One of them, Roy Chung, was born to South Korean immigrants. Unlike the others who defected across the DMZ, he defected by first crossing the border between West and East Germany in 1979. His parents accused North Korea of abducting him. The United States was not interested in investigating the case, as he was not a "security risk", and in similar cases it was usually impossible to prove that a kidnapping had occurred. There were several other cases of South Koreans mysteriously disappearing and moving to North Korea at that time, including the case of a geology teacher from Seoul who disappeared in April 1979 while he was having a holiday in Norway. Some South Koreans also accused North Korea of attempting to kidnap them while staying abroad. These alleged kidnapping attempts occurred mainly in Europe, Japan or Hong Kong.
Double defectors
There are people who have defected from North Korea to South Korea, and then have defected back to North Korea again. In the first half of 2012 alone, there were 100 cases of "double defectors" like this. Possible reasons for double defectors are the safety of remaining family members left behind, North Korea's promises of forgiveness and other attempts to lure the defectors back including propaganda, and widespread discrimination faced in South Korea. Both the poor and members of elite are dismayed to find out that they are societally in worse off in South Korea than they were in the North. Half of the North Korean defectors living in South Korea are unemployed. In 2013 there were 800 North Korean defectors unaccounted for out of 25,000 people. They might have gone to China or Southeast Asian countries on their way back to North Korea. South Korea's Unification Ministry officially recognizes only 13 cases of double defectors as of 2014.
South Korea's laws do not allow naturalized North Koreans to return. North Korea has accused South Korea of abducting and forcibly interning those who want to and has demanded that they are allowed to leave.
Contemporary South Korean-born defectors
North Korea has targeted its own defectors with propaganda in attempts to lure them back as double defectors, but contemporary South Korean defectors born outside of North Korea were not welcome to defect to the North. In recent years there have been seven people who tried to leave South Korea, but they were detained for illegal entry in North Korea, and ultimately repatriated. In 2009 a wanted man cut a hole in the demilitarized zone fence and defected.
There have been fatalities as a result of failed defections. One defector died in a failed murder-suicide attempt by her husband while in detention. One person who attempted to defect was shot and killed by South Korean military in September 2013.