The 10 shocking defections to North Korea reveal a world of secrecy and terror. North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), remains the globe’s most secretive and isolated nation. Its ruler, the iron‑fisted dictator Kim Jong‑un, governs with absolute authority. The regime shelters an estimated 120,000 political prisoners who endure brutal living and working conditions and are subjected to torture. Public executions are routinely employed to instill terror. In the last ten years, at least seven individuals have been executed publicly for watching K‑pop videos from South Korea.
10 Shocking Defections Overview
10 James Dresnok
One of the most recognizable defectors to the DPRK was American James Dresnok. While serving as a U.S. soldier on the Korean peninsula, Dresnok slipped across the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and was seized by North Korean forces. He spent the remainder of his life in North Korea, passing away in 2016, and his two sons continue to live there, openly declaring loyalty to the “dear supreme commander” Kim Jong‑un in a 2017 interview.
Dresnok’s crossing occurred on August 15, 1962, when he trekked through a mined field. At that moment he was divorced and facing a court‑martial for forging his sergeant’s signature. In the 2006 documentary *Crossing the Line*, he confessed, “I was fed up with my childhood, my marriage, my military life, everything.” After arriving north, he became a propagandist film actor, repeatedly cast as the villainous American. Throughout his decades‑long stay he repeatedly affirmed his contentment, saying, “I feel at home… I wouldn’t trade it for nothing.”
9 Charles Jenkins
Another U.S. serviceman who shocked the world by defecting in 1965 was Charles Robert Jenkins. A sergeant in the U.S. Army, he crossed the DMZ while intoxicated, hoping to dodge a deployment to Vietnam. Unlike James Dresnok, Jenkins quickly realized the gravity of his mistake. He found himself confined with three other American defectors—including Dresnok—and forced to endure ten‑hour daily sessions of North Korean ideological instruction.
In 1972 Jenkins was granted North Korean citizenship and an apartment. He married Japanese national Hitomi Soga in 1980, a woman who had been abducted by the North Korean regime. After twenty‑nine years of captivity, Jenkins escaped in 2004, reuniting with his wife in Japan. Following his return, he became an outspoken critic of the regime, detailing beatings, deprivation, and even the loss of one of his testicles.
8 Sin
Defections to the North haven’t been limited to Americans; a few South Koreans have also taken the perilous step. The most prominent among them was Choe Deok‑sin, a former foreign minister and ambassador to West Germany. In 1986 he and his wife defected to the DPRK after a career that included service in the Korean Liberation Army and leadership of the Korea Military Academy. Disillusioned with South Korea’s military government, he had previously emigrated to the United States before deciding to cross northward.
Choe was celebrated by North Korean media until his death in 1989. In a bizarre twist, his son Choe In‑guk announced in 2019 that he was defecting from South Korea to the North, despite previously condemning his parents’ choice. Choe Deok‑sin remains the highest‑ranking South Korean official ever to defect to the DPRK.
7 Returning Home
What happens when a defector changes his mind? While many flee northward to the South, a reverse journey is exceedingly rare. At the start of 2022 reports emerged of a South Korean man who crossed the DMZ into North Korea. Initial coverage described the incident as a rare defection, but later investigations suggested the individual was actually a North Korean who had previously defected to the South a year earlier—a claim that remains unverified.
The unnamed man is believed to have a gymnastics background, explaining his ability to scale the border fences. His motives for returning north are unclear. Defectors who settle in the South often confront discrimination, bullying, and employment barriers, factors that may have influenced his decision.
6 Larry Allen Abshier
Larry Allen Abshier holds the distinction of being the first U.S. soldier to defect to North Korea, abandoning his post in early 1962. Like his fellow defectors James Dresnok and Charles Jenkins, Abshier faced disciplinary trouble; he had been caught smoking marijuana repeatedly and was on the brink of a court‑martial or dismissal. Seeking escape, he walked across a heavily mined section of the DMZ.
Within two weeks of his arrival, North Korean propaganda hailed him, and he soon appeared in numerous state‑produced films. Fellow defector Charles Jenkins later described Abshier as “the most scared” and “the simplest” of the American defectors. Allegedly bullied by Dresnok, Abshier was later paired with a Thai woman—reportedly kidnapped from Macau—by the regime. Unlike his peers, Abshier died relatively young, succumbing to a heart attack at age forty.
5 Nam
One of the most contentious South Korean defections involved economist Oh Kil‑nam. After earning a Ph.D. in Marxist economics in Germany, he was approached by North Korean agents who promised a high‑ranking economic post in the DPRK. Despite his wife’s objections, Oh accepted, and the family—him, his wife, and two daughters—traveled via East Germany and Moscow to North Korea, only to find no job awaiting them and no promised medical care for his wife’s hepatitis.
Later, Oh was recruited for a covert mission that would have placed him at the North Korean embassy in Denmark to entrap South Korean students. Upon arrival in Copenhagen, he pleaded for asylum. Danish authorities detained him for several months before sending him to Germany in an attempt to reunite him with his family, only to discover they had already been seized and sent to a concentration camp. The last word he heard from them was in 1991, leaving his family’s fate unknown.
4 Roy Chung
Roy Chung, also known as Chung Ryeu Sop, made headlines when the twenty‑two‑year‑old South Korean emigrated to the United States with his family in 1973, later enlisting in the U.S. Army. In 1979, while stationed in West Germany, he went absent without leave and was labeled a “deserter.” Two months later he resurfaced in North Korea, reportedly unable to endure what he described as the “disgraceful life of national insult and maltreatment” within the U.S. military.
While North Korean officials claim Chung voluntarily defected, his parents in the United States insisted he had been abducted by North Korean agents. U.S. officials, noting that Chung possessed no classified information, expressed no reason to doubt the North Korean narrative and did not pursue an investigation. His whereabouts after the defection remain unknown.
3 Matthew Todd Miller
Perhaps the most bizarre case of a defection to the DPRK involves American tourist Matthew Todd Miller. In April 2014, the twenty‑four‑year‑old entered North Korea on an organized tour, only to tear up his visa upon arrival and request political asylum. North Korean authorities arrested him for a “gross violation” of the nation’s legal order.
In September 2014 he was sentenced to six years of hard labor for illegal entry and hostile acts, yet he was released on November 8, 2014, alongside fellow American Kenneth Bae, who faced a fifteen‑year sentence for anti‑government activities. After his freedom, Miller explained, “I was just trying to stay in the country,” adding that his true aim was to learn about North Korea and converse with ordinary citizens about everyday matters.
2 Suk
Another instance of a “double defection” unfolded in 2012 when sixty‑six‑year‑old Pak Jong‑suk returned to North Korea. She had initially defected in 2006 to join her father in Qingdao, China, later claiming she was tricked by South Korean security agents into moving south, where she lived for six years. Reports indicate she flew back to the North via China on May 25, 2012.
Upon her homecoming, Pak held a public press conference, apologizing for “betraying her motherland” and praising the “profound loving care” displayed by the North Korean leader. She detailed hardships endured in the “corrupt money‑crazed South.” Skeptics argue her return was motivated by family concerns rather than genuine patriotism, labeling her narrative as likely state‑fabricated.
1 Joseph White
The final entry is Joseph White, a U.S. soldier who defected to the DPRK in 1982. He enlisted in October 1981, was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea by March 1982, and on the morning of August 28, 1982, abruptly abandoned his post in the DMZ at age twenty, citing “motives that are not known.” North Korean officials announced he sought political refuge driven by “deep emotion.”
In 1983 his parents received a letter reassuring them that he was well and employed as an English teacher. Tragically, two years later, in 1985, White drowned while swimming in the rain‑swollen Chongchon River, caught in a swift current. He was 23 at the time of his death.