The only US soldier known to still be living in North Korea after defecting more than five decades ago died last year, pledging his loyalty to the “great leader Kim Jong-un”, his sons have said
James Joseph Dresnok was among a handful of American servicemen to desert following the Korean war, crossing the heavily fortified demilitarised zone in 1962.
He went on to appear in North Korean propaganda films and was believed to be the last US defector in the country, the others all having died or been allowed to leave.
“Our father was in the arms of the republic and received only the love and care of the party until his passing at age 74,” said Ted Dresnok, the elder of the two.
In the video, Dresnok and his brother wore a Korean People’s army uniform, adorned with a badge depicting the North’s founder Kim Il-sung and his son and successor Kim Jong-il
Both men were born in North Korea and spoke Korean with a heavy northern accent.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...who-defected-to-north-korea-has-died-say-sons.
Meet Charles Robert Jenkins, an American detained by North Korea for 40 years
harles Robert Jenkins deserted the U.S. Army on a freezing night in January 1965. He pounded 10 beers to quiet his nerves, and abandoned his patrol unit along the border dividing South and North Korea — a 160-mile-long, 2.5-mile-wide strip of mine-ridden no man’s land.
He unloaded his M-16 rifle to show the enemy he meant no harm; he raised his knees high to avoid triggering tripwires. Several hours later, he crossed into North Korea.
He didn’t leave for nearly 40 years
Now, Jenkins — 77 but looking much older, with a deep-lined face and distant expression — lives a quiet life on Sado, a small, pastoral island in the Sea of Japan. He speaks in the thick Southern accent of his North Carolina childhood, and the stories he tells, 13 years after the end of his North Korean adventure, recall decades of solitude, deprivation and torture.
In North Korea, I lived a dog’s life,” he said in a rare interview, as he drove his boxy Subaru through Sado Island’s rice paddies and sleepy villages. “Ain’t nobody live good in North Korea. Nothing to eat. No running water. No electricity. In the wintertime you freeze — in my bedroom, the walls were covered in ice.”
Jenkins works now as a greeter in Mano Park, a placid tourist attraction on the Japanese island, selling senbei, a type of rice cracker. Tourists see him and squeal with delight — “Jenkins-san!” — as he passively poses for photos.
But North Korea somehow feels as close as ever. The television news carries a constant drumbeat of stories: Pyongyang’s increasingly advanced missile tests, and nuclear threats; the death of Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old American college student, after 17 months in North Korean custody; the assassination of ruler Kim Jong Un’s half-brother in a Malaysian airport.
They all carry echoes of the one incontrovertible lesson he learned as a guest of the North Korean government for 40 years. “I don't put nothing past North Korea,” Jenkins says. “North Korea could to do anything. North Korea don’t care.”
Six American soldiers defected to North Korea after the Korean war. Most were unhappy in the Army; most had troubled pasts.
In 1965, Jenkins was a U.S. Army sergeant posted to South Korea. But he was unhappy with his assignment and worried it could get worse. He feared his unit’s nighttime patrols along the border were too provocative and would get them killed; he feared he’d be sent to die in Vietnam. He got depressed, began drinking heavily and made a decision that he’d regret for the rest of his life: to go AWOL.
more
Meet Charles Robert Jenkins, an American detained by North Korea for 40 years - LA Times
James Joseph Dresnok was among a handful of American servicemen to desert following the Korean war, crossing the heavily fortified demilitarised zone in 1962.
He went on to appear in North Korean propaganda films and was believed to be the last US defector in the country, the others all having died or been allowed to leave.
“Our father was in the arms of the republic and received only the love and care of the party until his passing at age 74,” said Ted Dresnok, the elder of the two.
In the video, Dresnok and his brother wore a Korean People’s army uniform, adorned with a badge depicting the North’s founder Kim Il-sung and his son and successor Kim Jong-il
Both men were born in North Korea and spoke Korean with a heavy northern accent.
more
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...who-defected-to-north-korea-has-died-say-sons.
Meet Charles Robert Jenkins, an American detained by North Korea for 40 years
harles Robert Jenkins deserted the U.S. Army on a freezing night in January 1965. He pounded 10 beers to quiet his nerves, and abandoned his patrol unit along the border dividing South and North Korea — a 160-mile-long, 2.5-mile-wide strip of mine-ridden no man’s land.
He unloaded his M-16 rifle to show the enemy he meant no harm; he raised his knees high to avoid triggering tripwires. Several hours later, he crossed into North Korea.
He didn’t leave for nearly 40 years
Now, Jenkins — 77 but looking much older, with a deep-lined face and distant expression — lives a quiet life on Sado, a small, pastoral island in the Sea of Japan. He speaks in the thick Southern accent of his North Carolina childhood, and the stories he tells, 13 years after the end of his North Korean adventure, recall decades of solitude, deprivation and torture.
In North Korea, I lived a dog’s life,” he said in a rare interview, as he drove his boxy Subaru through Sado Island’s rice paddies and sleepy villages. “Ain’t nobody live good in North Korea. Nothing to eat. No running water. No electricity. In the wintertime you freeze — in my bedroom, the walls were covered in ice.”
Jenkins works now as a greeter in Mano Park, a placid tourist attraction on the Japanese island, selling senbei, a type of rice cracker. Tourists see him and squeal with delight — “Jenkins-san!” — as he passively poses for photos.
But North Korea somehow feels as close as ever. The television news carries a constant drumbeat of stories: Pyongyang’s increasingly advanced missile tests, and nuclear threats; the death of Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old American college student, after 17 months in North Korean custody; the assassination of ruler Kim Jong Un’s half-brother in a Malaysian airport.
They all carry echoes of the one incontrovertible lesson he learned as a guest of the North Korean government for 40 years. “I don't put nothing past North Korea,” Jenkins says. “North Korea could to do anything. North Korea don’t care.”
Six American soldiers defected to North Korea after the Korean war. Most were unhappy in the Army; most had troubled pasts.
In 1965, Jenkins was a U.S. Army sergeant posted to South Korea. But he was unhappy with his assignment and worried it could get worse. He feared his unit’s nighttime patrols along the border were too provocative and would get them killed; he feared he’d be sent to die in Vietnam. He got depressed, began drinking heavily and made a decision that he’d regret for the rest of his life: to go AWOL.
more
Meet Charles Robert Jenkins, an American detained by North Korea for 40 years - LA Times
