Nicola Smith
Asia Correspondent
02 October 2024 11:17am
A North Korean defector living in South Korea has been detained after apparently trying to drive back to the reclusive regime in a stolen village bus.
The man in his 30s allegedly stole the bus from a garage before ramming and crashing it into a barricade on the so-called “Unification” bridge near the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, reported the Yonhap news agency.
The man, who has not been named, hit the barrier on the bridge in Paju, about 18 miles northwest of the capital Seoul, after ignoring warnings from the guards to stop.
He is now under investigation by the police, who said he had informed them he defected more than a decade ago and had recently been living in Sillim-dong, a suburb in southwest Seoul.
At the time of his arrest, he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. He reportedly said he wanted to return to the North after experiencing hardship in South Korea.
According to Seoul’s unification ministry, around 34,200 North Koreans have resettled in the South after fleeing oppression and poverty under authoritarian leader Kim Jong-un’s rule.
Most have faced a perilous escape across the border followed by a tough and dangerous journey through China and south-east Asian nations.
Often their struggles do not end when they arrive in South Korea and find it difficult to integrate in a modern and ultra-competitive society that contrasts sharply with their own upbringing and education.
Attempts to return North across the heavily mined and tightly guarded border are rare but not unknown.
In 2022, the South Korean authorities, who provide resettlement support for defectors, confirmed that about 30 people had gone back since 2012, although there may be unreported cases.
In January 2022, a North Korean gymnast who stunned the nation by vaulting his way through the hazardous high-security border zone, evading surveillance, surprised the public again by climbing back through it after spending only one year in the South’s democratic system.
Local media said he had become disillusioned with his job as a cleaner and had financial problems.
Ji Seong-ho, a high-profile defector who has held senior positions in office since arriving in Seoul, told The Telegraph in an interview last month that many of those who fled from North Korea were burdened with trauma and often forced to take up menial jobs.
“People who need to support their families have no freedom in the choosing of jobs and they just need to work to make ends meet,” he said.
As a former member of the South Korean parliament, Mr Ji previously advocated for incentives for businesses to employ North Koreans who did not have the same networks as their peers in the South, but he said the proposal had met with resistance and not been adopted.
The post Defector tries returning to North Korea on stolen bus appeared first on The Telegraph.
