Quote (Santara @ Jul 20 2017 07:43am)
Over 25!
Meanwhile, up to 200,000 North Koreans have defected to China.
200,000 in total over the years, not in the past 6 months. In any case, of course there are going to be many more Koreans leaving than entering the DPRK, because it is much, much, much harder to get in than it is to get out, and the incentives are very different.
First of all, there isn't really an organized illegal route to take people inside. Unlike when you're going out, you're often completely alone in your way in. Not that many would risk helping you anyway, even for a lot of money, because chances are that if they get caught they'd not only be accused of being involved in illegal migration activities, but also of espionage. And believe me, that's the last charge you want to have pressed against you in the DPRK. You often have to swim your way there (with a high chance of drowning and hypothermia) all alone. Chances are you'll be shot by a guard. Keep in mind that even the corrupt ones that betray the country and accept bribes to look the other way while people are smuggled out don't know you're coming, so they'll be patrolling and ready to shoot potential spies. Alternatively you can try contacting an underground DPRK society in the ROK to have them smuggle you back, but it's likely that the ROK will find you before you manage to establish contact, and if they don't then you risk that the DPRK agents might think you are now a spy that wants to return home only to spy for the ROK.
And of course there's the whole incentive thing of spending years in a labour camp if you go back. How desperate do you have to be to prefer a labor camp over living in the ROK? The fact that over 25 people over the past 6 months alone have risked their lives either by crossing the border in extremely dangerous conditions or by playing Russian Roulette by taking the risk of contacting a DPRK underground society in the ROK, as well as them being willing to spend years as prisoners, is amazing.
Quote (Saucisson6000 @ Jul 20 2017 07:55am)
Over 25 ?
If she was abducted it's pretty easier to come back...
Because in the video she seems to be in a psychological shock,
Abducted? LMAO! Do you think the DPRK has nothing better to do than abduct randoms? An abduction operation requires careful planning and they don't come cheap. They don't waste their resources on random defectors. Nowadays the DPRK only abducts spies. In the past they also abducted scientists or technicians of some sort that possessed some special knowledge that made them specially valuable and would allow the DPRK to carry out some project. But randoms like this girl? Nope, that's pointless and they really have better things to do.
And of course she's in shock. She's coming out as a traitor on national TV. She's confessing the most shameful crime in the most patriotic country in the world. She's likely going to be judged very harshly by the people there. Even if she is somehow pardoned and avoids becoming a prisoner, she will be stigmatized. Of course she's terrified.