A South Korea man who was kidnapped by North Korea more than 30 years ago managed to escape to China and come in contact with South Korean authorities. Apparently he was not able to bring his North Korean wife and children because of "difficulties." I wonder what these complications might be, maybe they did not want to leave? Or maybe he did not even tell them he was leaving? It will be interesting to see these details when all the facts come out.
Although this is a happy time for this man, I imagine he is having very mixed feelings. On one hand he is able to see his South Korea relatives, but he will likely never again see his North Korean wife and children. It seems that North Korea has truly ruined some, if not all, parts of this man's life. Additionally, not only was he forced to live there for more than 30 years, but I am sure his family in the South was tormented every day by the thought of what might have happened to him.
According to the article, more than 480 South Koreans have been abducted by North Korea since its inception as a country, as well as 500 South Korean soldiers still held by the regime. While I assume North Korea says that these people probably defected voluntarily and they are being saved from the puppet state of the South, I don't think there is any excuse for this type of behavior and it is not the way in which to move towards peace on the peninsula.
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A North Korean defector who wrote my review book, "Eyes of the tailless animals" explained about South Korean soldiers who got caught by North Korea. They had wifes in South and got married in North too. But they considered wives in North "temporary." Those men believed they would go back someday and their wives would wait for them.
When I read this, I felt so bad about their wives in North as much as I felt sorry for wives in South. This case could be different from the excaped man because of time differences but I think the main situation is the same. Yes,North Korea has ruined this people's lives.
But, at the same time, I wondered about why those guys don't have commitment to their wives or why they have less commitment to their wives compared to what they have for others. I ended up thinking their wives might be brainwashed so they might have different ideologies to leave for South together.
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