North Korean soldier defects to the South despite being shot.

A surgeon talks to soldiers at the hospital where the defector was treated. Reuters. 

A North Korean soldier defected to South Korea by crossing the DMZ despite being shot. Reuters. The solider was found in Panmunjon with gunshot wounds to his shoulder and elbow. He was treated for his wounds and there was no exchange of gunfire between the North and South. More than 1000 North Koreans defect each year to South Korea but it is extremely rare for them to cross the DMZ. The vast majority of them defect via China. It is unclear what rank and the status of the defector.

My Comment:

Interesting story out of South Korea. This isn't the first time this has happened but it is fairly rare for defectors to cross the DMZ. For one thing it is much more closely guarded by both sides and it is not easy to sneak across. Getting shot at is predictable. The Chinese border is a lot more porous and open. 

So why did he go via the DMZ? My guess is that he was stationed in the area. As difficult as it is to cross the DMZ it would be much more difficult to go AWOL and try to flee to the northern border with China (or perhaps Russia). Remember, North Korea is a police state and a single soldier traveling alone would be suspicious. 

We don't know much about the soldier. My guess is he was fairly low ranking, so I doubt we will find out much intelligence. I am guessing if he was higher ranked, he could have been able to find away to the safer Chinese border crossings. I think that it is very unlikely that he was ranked higher than a junior officer, with it being much more likely that he was an enlisted man. I guess it is possible that it was a rouge general or something, but that would be surprising to say the least. 

Why would this guy defect in the first place? Well, if he was close to the DMZ he might have observed how much nicer South Korea is than the North. That's certainly possible but I think it's just as likely that he had screwed up somehow and he needed to get out of the country. We all know how horrible it is to be on the wrong side of the North Korean regime and he may have wanted to escape from them. 

The sad thing is that his family is likely to pay the price. Defectors families are not treated well. There have been reports of children of defectors being forced into hard labor after their parents fled. I wouldn't be surprised that this man's family could meet a similar fate. 

Why would North Korea punish the families of defectors? Well they have a vested interest in not letting people escape. If North Korea suddenly stopped caring and let people leave they would face a major brain drain and labor shortage and they can't risk that. They disproportionately punish the families of defectors so that they don't encourage others to escape. 

It just goes to show how awful it is in North Korea. Even during good times it is a despotic hellhole police state where people are punished for the "sins" of their grandparents. And during the bad times people starve to death en mass. North Korea is so bad that people are willing to risk getting shot just to escape from it.  It's truly a horrible country and I hope one day that somehow, someway that things improve in North Korea...