SEOUL (Reuters) – Last week, a 24-year-old defector returned to North Korea the way he left in 2017, authorities say, but with a coronavirus pandemic in the background this time, his illicit journey attracted much More attention.
FILE PHOTO: Kaesong City is seen through the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates North Korea from South Korea in this image taken from the Dora Observatory in Paju, 55 km (34 miles) north of Seoul , September 25, 2013. REUTERS / Lee Jae- Won
South Korea identified the man by his last name, Kim alone, and said he was the “fugitive” whom North Korea accuses of illegally crossing their shared border last week with symptoms of COVID-19.
Faced with a sexual assault investigation, Kim evaded South Korea’s high-tech border control systems by crawling through a drainpipe and swimming across the Han River north on July 19, the South Korean military said. He appears to have spent several days there before being caught.
South Korean military chief Park Han-ki told parliament Tuesday that Kim, who is 163 cm (5.35 ft) tall and weighs 54 kg (119 lbs), made his way through fences of barbed wire installed at the end of the pipe leading to the river.
A Seoul official told Reuters that Kim is believed to have taken a similar path when he deserted south in 2017, and authorities say he explored the area in early July, apparently in preparation.
Kim’s history as a deserter begins and ends so far in Kaesong City, a border city in North Korea that housed a now-closed factory park and inter-Korean liaison office.
When that industrial project was closed amid mounting tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program in 2016, the economic shock prompted Kim to try his luck in the south in 2017, he said in a YouTube video filmed with a fellow defector. in South Korea in June. .
Instead of traversing China, as the vast majority of North Korean defectors often do, Kim headed south across the porous sea border into the heavily guarded demilitarized zone that divides the two Koreas.
“After going through barbed wire fences, I came across minefields, which I overlooked and came to a reed field near the Han River where I remained hidden for about three hours,” he said in the video, and He added that he lived on mere bread. crumbs
He started swimming, following the lights on the south bank of the river. When he finally reached land, he let out a cry for help and was found by a unit of South Korean soldiers.
Little is known about how Kim made a living in South Korea, but a source with knowledge of his background told Reuters that he owed 20 million won ($ 16,800) to at least one fellow defector from Kaesong.
“He had expressed his desire to become a security teacher for students, as many other dropouts do, but it never happened, in part due to the pandemic,” the source said anonymously due to the sensitivity of the matter.
According to police, a female deserter in her 20s filed a complaint on June 12, accusing Kim of sexually assaulting her at her home. He was interviewed once on June 21, and he denied the allegations.
The investigation was accelerated when one of Kim’s acquaintances informed police on July 19 that he threatened the woman and planned to flee north, a police official said.
Two days later an arrest warrant was issued for Kim, but according to North Korean state media, he had already arrived there.
By July 24, North Korean authorities had found it in Kaesong and said it showed symptoms of COVID-19. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the city closed and declared a state of emergency, state media reported Sunday.
South Korean health officials said there was no sign that Kim was infected with the coronavirus before leaving the South, and that at least two people who were in close contact with him tested negative.
Reports by Hyonhee Shing, Sangmi Cha, and Josh Smith. Edition by Gerry Doyle
.
