Thread: UPDATE: N. Korean soldier, shot and wounded, defects to South

SEOUL--A North Korean soldier defected to the South on Monday after being shot and wounded by the North Korean military, South Korea said.


The soldier was found on the south side of the border village of Panmunjom, about 50 meters south of the Military Demarcation Line, wounded in his shoulder and elbow, according to a South Korean defense ministry official.


He defected from a North Korean guard post nearby and was being treated in hospital.


“The defector was urgently transferred to hospital in a helicopter of the United Nations Command, and there was no exchange of fire with our side,” the ministry official told Reuters.


“Since it was an area exposed to the North, we had to crawl toward there to get him out,” the official added.
There was no immediate comment on the incident from North Korea.


While on average more than 1,000 North Koreans defect to South Korea every year, most travel via China and it is unusual for a North Korean to cross the land border dividing the two Koreas, which have been in a technical state of war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.


The last such crossing was in June.


The South Korean ministry official said the soldier’s condition and military rank remained to be verified.


The defection comes amid tension between the two Koreas, and between the United States and the North.


North Korea has this year been boosting its nuclear and missile capacity with a series of tests as it faces off with U.S. President Donald Trump who has vowed to stop it from being able to hit the mainland United States with a nuclear weapon.


North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb test on Sept. 3, but has not launched any missiles since firing one over Japan on Sept. 15, the longest such lull this year.

UPDATE: N. Korean soldier, shot and wounded, defects to South?The Asahi Shimbun

His family best be getting the Lulu out dodge.

Defecting North Korean soldier in critical condition, U.N. investigating

SEOUL (Reuters) - A North Korean soldier shot while defecting to the South has undergone several surgical procedures and is in a critical condition, South Korea’s government and military said on Tuesday, with doctors expecting to save him.

“Until this morning, we heard he had no consciousness and was unable to breathe on his own but his life can be saved,” said Suh Wook, chief director of operations at South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was briefing lawmakers regarding Monday’s event.


Five bullets had been extracted from the soldier’s body so far, leaving an estimated two inside, Suh added.



Lee Cook-jong, the surgeon in charge of the soldier’s treatment, told reporters earlier on Tuesday his condition was critical due to intestinal damage caused by the bullets.


The soldier had sped towards the border in a vehicle when a wheel came loose, forcing him to escape on foot under fire from four North Korean soldiers who shot around 40 rounds at him, Suh said.


North Korea’s military took action when the defector was spotted in the four wheel drive heading towards the border alone, Roh Jae-cheon, a spokesman for the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a media briefing on Tuesday.


The soldier took cover behind a South Korean structure within the Joint Security Area (JSA) inside the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas and was later rescued by South Korean and U.S. soldiers at the border, the United Nations Command (UNC) said in a separate statement.


It said the soldier had been shot by several North Korean soldiers.


He was found unarmed and taken to surgery while still in his uniform, which indicated he held a lower rank, Suh said. South Korean officials have yet to identify exactly where the soldier came from and what his intentions were.


The military armistice commission of the United Nations said in the same UNC statement it had informed the North Korean military that the soldier, who was found about 50 meters (150 feet) south of the Military Demarcation Line, was undergoing surgery for his gunshot wounds.
Suh also said the South had later informed the North on Monday of the soldier and his ongoing treatment via loudspeakers installed at the border.


The United Nations Command said an investigation into Monday’s event was ongoing.



It was the first time since 2007 a North Korean soldier had defected across the JSA. South Korean Defence Minister Song Young-moo, who was also at parliament said it was the first time North Korean soldiers had fired towards the South’s side of the JSA, prompting complaints from some lawmakers the South’s military should have also fired shots towards the North.


Moon Sang-gyun, the South’s defense ministry spokesman said military operations at the JSA are usually carried out under the order of the United Nations Command, which is in turn under order from the U.S. military.


Roh said no South Korean or U.S. soldiers were wounded during the incident and the defense ministry official said North Korea’s military had not shown any unusual movements on Tuesday.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-n...-idUSKBN1DE04N

UPDATE

North Korean Defector had 10-Inch Parasite in His Stomach, Unlike Anything Surgeon Had Seen Before


An experienced South Korean surgeon operating on a defector from North Korea has described his shock upon finding dozens of unusual parasites inside the man’s stomach, suggesting widespread health issues among the population of the secretive state.

The patient, who has not been named, was critically injured as he fled North Korea under a hail of bullets fired from his former comrades through the Joint Security Area (JSA) at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) border area between the two countries on Monday. Doctor Lee Guk-jong has now operated twice on the man to treat his injuries, with the presence of parasites adding complications to the surgery.

“We are struggling with treatment as we found a large number of parasites in the soldier’s stomach, invading and eating into the wounded areas,” Lee said at a press briefing following a three-and-a-half-hour operation on Wednesday, quoted in the Korea Biomedical Review.

The doctor described the patient as been 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing 132 pounds, suggesting he may suffer from malnutrition.
Among the parasites was a species of roundworm that can be contracted by eating vegetables fertilized with human faeces or, more generally, in areas with poor sanitation. The longest parasite found in the North Korean soldiers' stomach measured 27 centimetres (10 inches), local media reported. Experts say that many North Koreans could be infected with the same kind of parasites.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-kor...113556241.html

Finally it's been verified , My Mary has been showing me reports of a killer worm that's just arrived in Thailand , it takes only one to kill the host. She's asked me if I've read anything about it on here but until now ^ after reading about the worm inside the N. Korean defector you've confirmed that Asia now has a super worm. Killer parasite.
Another reason to cancel our Thailand trip.

Injured defector’s parasites and diet hint at hard life in North Korea

SEOUL--Parasitic worms found in a North Korean soldier, critically injured during a desperate defection, highlight nutrition and hygiene problems that experts say have plagued the isolated country for decades.


At a briefing on Wednesday, lead surgeon Lee Cook-jong displayed photos showing dozens of flesh-colored parasites--including one 27 centimeters long--removed from the wounded soldier's digestive tract during a series of surgeries to save his life.


"In my over 20 year-long career as a surgeon, I have only seen something like this in a textbook," Lee said.


The parasites, along with kernels of corn in his stomach, may confirm what many experts and previous defectors have described about the food and hygiene situation for many North Koreans.


"Although we do not have solid figures showing health conditions of North Korea, medical experts assume that parasite infection problems and serious health issues have been prevalent in the country," said Choi Min-Ho, a professor at Seoul National University College of Medicine who specialises in parasites.


The soldier's condition was "not surprising at all considering the north’s hygiene and parasite problems," he said.


The soldier was flown by helicopter to hospital on Monday after his dramatic escape to South Korea in a hail of bullets fired by North Korean soldiers.


He is believed to be an army staff sergeant in his mid-20s who was stationed in the Joint Security Area in the United Nations truce village of Panmunjom, according to Kim Byung-kee, a lawmaker of South Korea's ruling party, briefed by the National Intelligence Service.


North Korea has not commented on the defection.


While the contents of the soldier’s stomach don’t necessarily reflect the population as a whole, his status as a soldier--with an elite assignment--would indicate he would at least be as well nourished as an average North Korean.


He was shot in his buttocks, armpit, back shoulder and knee among other wounds, according to the hospital where the soldier is being treated.



‘THE BEST FERTILIZER’


Parasitic worms were also once common in South Korea 40 to 50 years ago, Lee noted during his briefing, but have all but disappeared as economic conditions greatly improved.


Other doctors have also described removing various types of worms and parasites from North Korean defectors.


Their continued prevalence north of the heavily fortified border that divides the two Koreas could be in part tied to the use of human excrement, often called "night soil."


"Chemical fertilizer was supplied by the state until the 1970s, but from the early 1980s, production started to decrease," said Lee Min-bok, a North Korean agriculture expert who defected to South Korea in 1995. "By the 1990s, the state could not supply it anymore, so farmers started to use a lot of night soil instead."


In 2014, supreme leader Kim Jong Un personally urged farmers to use human feces, along with animal waste and organic compost, to fertilize their fields.


A lack of livestock, however, made it difficult to find animal waste, said Lee, the agriculture expert.


Even harder to overcome, he said, is the view of night soil as the "best fertilizer in North Korea," despite the risk of worms and parasites.
"Vegetables grown in it are considered more delicious than others," Lee said.



LIMITED DIETS


The medical briefing described the wounded soldier as being 170 cm and 60 kg with his stomach containing corn. It's a staple grain that more North Koreans may be relying on in the wake of what the United Nations has called the worst drought since 2001.


Imported corn, which is less preferred but cheaper to obtain than rice, has tended to increase in years when North Koreans are more worried about their seasonal harvests.


Between January and September this year, China exported nearly 49,000 tons of corn to North Korea, compared to only 3,125 tons in all of 2016, according to data released by Beijing.


Despite the drought and international sanctions over Pyongyang's nuclear program, the cost of corn and rice has remained relatively stable, according to a Reuters analysis of market data collected by the defector-run Daily NK website.


Since the 1990s, when government rations failed to prevent a famine hitting the country, North Koreans have gradually turned to markets and other private means to feed themselves.


The World Food Program says a quarter of North Korean children 6-59 months old, who attend nurseries that the organization assists, suffer from chronic malnutrition.


On average North Koreans are less nourished than their southern neighbors. The WFP says around one in four children have grown less tall than their South Korean counterparts. A study from 2009 said preschool children in the North were up to 13 cm shorter and up to 7 kg lighter than those brought up in the South.


"The main issue in DPRK is a monotonous diet--mainly rice/maize, kimchi and bean paste--lacking in essential fats and protein," the WFP told Reuters in a statement last month.

Injured defector?s parasites and diet hint at hard life in North Korea?The Asahi Shimbun

Can't imagine what this poor kid's guts must have felt like........

A truly dreadful existence up there.

Hospital says N. Korean soldier's condition stabilizing

SEOUL--Hospital officials say the condition of a North Korean soldier severely wounded by gunfire while escaping to South Korea is gradually improving after two surgeries but it's too early to tell whether he makes a recovery.


An official at the Ajou University Medical Center near Seoul said Saturday the soldier's vital signs are stabilizing and no further operations are planned yet.


The soldier remains unconscious and relying on a breathing machine.


Surgeons removed dozens of parasites from his ruptured small intestine, which may be reflective of poor nutrition and health in North Korea's military.


South Korea's military says North Korean soldiers on Monday used handguns and AK rifles to fire at their comrade as he escaped to the South through a jointly patrolled area on the border.

Hospital says N. Korean soldier's condition stabilizing?The Asahi Shimbun

Amazing stuff and glad he made it.



https://www.businessinsider.com.au/n...-video-2017-11

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Amazing stuff and glad he made it.

Amazing that he made it across for sure. They lit him up at point blank range. He was lucky.

Imagine the level of desperation required to make such an attempt!

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Imagine the level of desperation required to make such an attempt!

Not much imagination required with the Western media's coverage of NoKo over the last decade.

North Korea's wounded defector 'nice guy', says surgeon

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea’s latest defector, a young soldier known only by his family name Oh, is a quiet, pleasant man who has nightmares about being returned to the North, his surgeon said on Thursday.

“He’s a pretty nice guy,” said lead surgeon John Cook-Jong Lee, who has been operating and caring for the 24-year-old. Oh has become a focus of worldwide attention after he was badly wounded by fellow North Korean soldiers as he scrambled across the border in the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South on Nov. 13.


Video of Oh’s escape released on Wednesday showed him stumbling over the border and being dragged unconscious through the undergrowth by South Korean troops.



Surgeon Lee has been almost the only person to speak with Oh since he arrived at the hospital, he told Reuters in an interview at his office at Ajou University Hospital, just a few floors away from where the defector lies guarded by South Korean special forces and intelligence officers.


The surgeon, who has hung a South Korean flag in the soldier’s room, said he is avoiding subjects that may disturb his patient. Oh is eating his first “clear liquid” food such as broths, and can smile, talk, and use his hands, Lee said. But when his patient woke on Sunday he cried out in pain, and Lee said he is still anxious about the South Korean guards.


Lee said Oh told him that he had joined the North Korean army when he was 17, right after secondary school graduation. The soldier’s hair is styled “like a jarhead, like a U.S. Marine, so I actually joked ‘why don’t you join the South Korean Marines?’ He smiled and said that he would never ever go back to the military system again.”


Medical teams have worked for days to remove the shards of at least four bullets from Oh’s body, stitch up his shredded organs, and treat pre-existing conditions including tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and a case of massive intestinal worms, Lee said.


“He’s a quite strong man,” said Lee.



Since Oh’s defection, North Korea appeared to have replaced all its security guards on the border, an intelligence source in the South told Yonhap news agency on Thursday.


COLLAPSED LUNG

Lee said that when the defector arrived in an American military helicopter at the hospital – which is equipped with state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment and is used to treat VIP visitors such as visiting U.S. presidents - he came with zero personal information.


On the flight in, American army flight medics had fought to keep Oh alive, jabbing a large needle into his chest to treat a collapsed lung.


Oh was immediately wheeled into a diagnostic room where doctors confirmed he was suffering from massive internal bleeding. “We knew then that we didn’t have time to hesitate,” Lee said, standing in that room Thursday night.


Two major surgeries were required to remove the bullets and patch Oh back together, and the medical team pumped as much as 12 liters of new blood into his body. The normal body has less than half as much blood.


“He told me that he is so thankful for South Koreans for saving his life and giving him that much blood,” Lee said.


Lee has been playing South Korean pop music and American films and TV shows for his patient, but has not exposed him to any news coverage.


Among the shows, Oh showed a liking for the French-American thriller “Transporter 3,” comedy “Bruce Almighty” starring Jim Carrey and Morgan Freeman; and the crime-solving TV series “CSI,” Lee said.
SCARS

Most North Korean defectors undergo security questioning by South Korea’s intelligence agency once they arrive in the South before being sent to a resettlement center for a three-month education on life in the South. After they are released, central and local governments provide 7 million won ($6,450) in cash over a year, as well as support in housing, education and job training.


Police officers are assigned to each of the defectors to ensure their security and safety.



Even if Oh fully recovers, some scars will stay for the rest of his life, the surgeon said.


Among the longest lasting wounds will be the damage to his colon, which was shredded by a bullet and had to be stitched back together in seven places. “It’s a lifelong complication for the patient, so he’s better to be very cautious in his diet,” said the surgeon.


Besides the potential for further medical complications, Lee says he is most worried about making sure Oh recovers psychologically. The soldier has already told him he had a nightmare about being returned to the North.


The surgeon said he has asked senior South Korean military officials who are eager to question the soldier to hold off while he recovers.
“This North Korean guy is not going anywhere,” Lee said. “He is staying in South Korea. So we don’t need to be hasty.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-n...-idUSKBN1DN1XG

BTW, what country just waves ByeBye to their soldiers when they defect to the enemy (even with some military gear)?
After all, they are in war the two countries, aren't they?

Originally Posted by Klondyke

BTW, what country just waves ByeBye to their soldiers when they defect to the enemy (even with some military gear)?

So you are inferring that shooting this man in the back was justified?

^Perhaps you have not understood my question? (sorry for my poor English)


Donald Trump says Bowe Bergdahl should have been executed
October 9, 2015

LAS VEGAS – Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said Thursday that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl should have been executed for leaving his post in Afghanistan.

"We're tired of Sgt. Bergdahl, who's a traitor, a no-good traitor, who should have been executed," Trump said to cheers at a rowdy rally inside a packed Las Vegas theater at the casino-hotel Treasure Island.

"Thirty years ago," Trump added, "he would have been shot."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/10/09/donald-trump-says-bowe-bergdahl-should-have-been-executed.html

^ Drumpf is a moron. So you are taking his words literally?

The US has only executed one soldier for desertion since the civil war and that was during WW2 so as usual Drumpf is talking out of his ass.

^There are different ways of "execution". Do you truly believe that all the defectors' "executions" will get into the MSM (the recognized)?

South Korea Trolls North With Loudspeakers Blaring News On Defector

South Korea is reportedly using loudspeakers along its border with North Korea to broadcast updates on a defecting soldier’s dramatic escape into the South.



The high-volume updates, reported on Monday by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, follow the North Korean solider’s mad dash across the border on Nov. 13. The 24-year-old man, who has only been identified by his surname of Oh, sustained organ damage from five gunshot wounds, and has since been treated for tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and intestinal worms, his doctors have said.

During a broadcast on Sunday, the South made note of the solider’s pre-existing health conditions while criticizing the North, which struggles to feed its people and provide adequate health care services.



The loudspeaker broadcasts serve as a kind of psychological warfare as the North tries to keep outside information from trickling in. Yonhap News, citing military officials, reported that North Koreans within 12 miles of the border are able to hear the speakers.



North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, has not addressed the soldier’s defection. In the past, the regime has blamed defections on Seoul either kidnapping them or enticing North Koreans to flee, The Associated Press reported.

This isn’t the first time the South has taunted its adversary with broadcasts.


South Korea has been blasting its view of events across the border since January 2016, when North Korea performed a nuclear test, ending a truce the two countries had reached to stop the broadcasts. Before that, South Korea briefly switched on its speakers in response to landmine explosions that maimed two soldiers, which it blamed on North Korea, according to AP.



On Thursday, a South Korean surgeon treating Oh said he is recovering well, though still has a lot of work ahead of him.

“He’s quite a strong man,” lead surgeon John Cook-Jong Lee told Reuters, adding that Oh will need psychological treatment as well.



Lee said he has asked senior South Korean military officials to hold off questioning Oh while he recovers.




https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b0d4906cb02668