digg

Join DiggAbout

Digg Townhall Tonight!
Tune into the live Digg townhall tonight at 5:00pm PST/8:00pm EST.

See the original image at news.bbc.co.uk —

Man flees N Korea after 33 years

news.bbc.co.uk — A South Korean fisherman who says he was kidnapped by North Korea more than three decades ago has escaped. Yun Jong-su, 66, is in South Korean custody in China waiting to return home, said Choi Sung-yong, head of an abductees' association. Mr Yun says he was captured along with 32 other crew members while fishing off South Korea's eastern coast...

show profanity settings
expand all
  • cwazidorse, on 06/10/2008, -43/+4who would want to flee north korea? they have fast internet
    • PPCG4, on 06/10/2008, -1/+16They have NO internet. North Koreans aren't allowed any contact with the outside world. One guy was publicly executed for making a long distance call.
      • lybrel, on 06/10/2008, -11/+1i'm 99% sure that was a joke. overreaction much?
        • MacGyver2000, on 06/10/2008, -1/+1It wasn't a joke. Any interaction with the outside world is a capital crime.
        • lybrel, on 06/12/2008, -0/+0the line "who would want to flee north korea? they have fast internet" i mean
    • Smokersroom, on 06/10/2008, -6/+1ROFL!

      I dugg you up.
    • hmunkey, on 06/10/2008, -0/+4I watched this documentary about N. Korea in which a doctor snuck cameras in to film reactions of citizens after he restored their eyesight after years. The first thing the patients did when they could see again was praise Kim Jong Il and say they would kill westerners with their vision.

      Brainwashed.
  • Trutholder, on 06/10/2008, -37/+0Your Mom is so fat! when she jump fo joyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. she get stuck!
  • BaoUnit, on 06/10/2008, -24/+1How does an article with eighty-seven diggs and no comments reach the front page?
  • da_bradler, on 06/10/2008, -39/+1This story reminds me of how little I care for fishermen. Scurg of the earth I wish north Korea would just take them all.
  • Pottypotsworth, on 06/10/2008, -29/+9I'm, so, ronery
    So ronery
    So ronery and sadry arone
    There's no one
    Just me onry
    Waiting to kiss me back home
    I work very hard to be number one guy
    Stil there nobody who rite up my rife
    Seems that no one takes me seriorousryyyy
    And so..
    I'm ronery
    A rittle ronery
    Poor ritter me..
  • NYGiantsNYYanks, on 06/10/2008, -8/+34North Korea is a pain in the ass.
  • nedy78, on 06/10/2008, -24/+2Wow inspirational! I can't imagine being captive for 33 years by my own countrymen.
    • andsalvatierra, on 06/10/2008, -0/+14North Korea is a vastly different country from South Korea; the man was kidnapped but not by his own countrymen.
      • nedy78, on 06/10/2008, -6/+0Same ancestry and genetic make up. Sorry about that, I realize the difference in the two countries.
    • joshhan, on 06/10/2008, -2/+1You mean, like jail?
  • TheBogie, on 06/10/2008, -18/+0This is not a believable story. He is probably a North Korean spy looking for nuclear secrets.

    That Kim Jong Ill is one sneaky SOB.
    • brstilson, on 06/10/2008, -0/+1They already have nuclear weapons. Why do you think we haven't invaded them?
  • jnuffnuffnomnom, on 06/10/2008, -17/+1h i r a r i o u s!
  • HookmasterCH47, on 06/10/2008, -3/+8Kim Jong Ill is sweet, have you ever heard about his crazy golf skills?

    http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/200 ...
    • kcfreels, on 06/10/2008, -0/+2If this doesn't prove to people that the NK press is a complete mouthpiece of the leadership....

      They even lie about their Golf Game! No honor at all...
  • gingerbreadMan, on 06/10/2008, -6/+68Do any of the above dumb-asses know the difference between North Korea and South Korea

    South Korea is a normal Asian country with fast internet and fun gadgets. Kind of like a copy of Japan

    North Korea is a Government-controlled police state where there are no rights and people cannot leave or enter, unless allowed by the government, which is run by the infamous Kim-Jon Il (you may know him from the Team America).

    God I hope the population isn't really this ignorant...

    edit: please read people :(
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_korea
    • cwazidorse, on 06/10/2008, -23/+1thanks for trying, dont care.
      • dksupremacy, on 06/10/2008, -0/+12I notice you were one of the dumb-asses he was speaking to, you should care, unless you like staying ignorant and being called a dumbass
    • CDRrules, on 06/10/2008, -1/+23South Korea may be similar to Japan, but don't tell them that you think they are a 'copy of Japan'. They are a bit on the nationalistic side, and the fact that they've been invaded by Japan in WW2 and before reinforces their dislike. That said, I hope your post informed some previously ignorant people.
      • zad1, on 06/10/2008, -5/+3Yeah. Saying South Korea is like a copy of Japan is just about same as saying France is like a copy of U.K.
      • Nosferax, on 06/10/2008, -0/+1Not to play nerd but Korea became a japanese protectorate after the russo-japanese war in 1905. Japan also got half of Sakahlin (sp?) island, Formosa and the southern tip of Manchuria at the same time.
        • inajeep, on 06/10/2008, -1/+2We came from the UK too but had a war with them just the same. We are all friendly now but it a couple of hundred years. Japan has been invading/raping/killing countries around them for hundreds if not thousands of years.
    • paulhickey, on 06/10/2008, -1/+7Copy Of Japan? As a Korean that offends me. Your other points were alright, but you should watch what you say about the Orient. Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans aren't the same, nor are they copies of each other. They are separate nations, with distinct differences, with different, albiet intertwined, histories. If Korea is a copy of Japan, then all western nations are merely copies of each other.
      A statement like that just demonstrates Ethno-centrism
    • lennybird, on 06/10/2008, -0/+2http://current.com/items/76375442_three_days_in_no ... - Three days in North Korea.

      Perhaps the definition of 1984?
  • superyounan1, on 06/10/2008, -1/+23enjoy your first hardy meal my friend, your first cellular call, your first music download, and your first vote. S. Korea is a place you can be proud to call home
    • SoundJudgment, on 06/10/2008, -2/+2Hear, hear. It is a bright day, when someone can once more choose...and fights to be free.
      Welcome home. Welcome home.
  • FUR10N, on 06/10/2008, -6/+11975 is a long time ago.
    • dsmx, on 06/10/2008, -0/+8In other surprise news the sun came up this morning.
      • Coven, on 06/10/2008, -1/+4and now to Ollie Williams with the Black-u-weather forecast...Ollie?
  • nedy78, on 06/10/2008, -9/+0I realize the differences in the two countries. I was basing my comment on ancestry and genetic make up. I understand the vast inequalities between the North and South.
  • Number23, on 06/10/2008, -8/+2But they have free health care, why would he want to leave?
    • slvrbullet87, on 06/10/2008, -1/+2Free OF healthcare, there is a difference
    • uminatsu, on 06/10/2008, -0/+1Millions are starved to death, if that is what free healthcare means...
  • JackSchittt, on 06/10/2008, -2/+19You guys should read up on Kim Jong Il's cult of personality. Some funny *****.

    2 Rainbows and a swallow foretold his birth.
    He makes multiple holes-in-one every time he plays golf
    He doesn't piss or *****.
    He is an "internet expert" (whatever that's supposed to be).

    It's just one of those things that I never get tired of reading.
    • Monk22, on 06/10/2008, -0/+2"He is an "internet expert" (whatever that's supposed to be)."

      he does apparently have the largest porn collection in the world. so those two might be related.
      • JackSchittt, on 06/11/2008, -0/+1Is it bigger than the Vatican's? ;)

        • Monk22, on 06/11/2008, -0/+1the pope was too busy shuffling around priests so they could continue to molest little boys so he didnt have much time for collecting.
  • cdigioia, on 06/10/2008, -1/+43North Korea is crazy, I went on a day tour about a month ago.

    Yes, there are tours - even as an American - expensive ones that depart from Beijing, or cheap ones from S. Korea that are just 1-3 days to a N. Korean mountain retreat, or a day tour to the city of Kaesong. I went to Kaesong for $200. Everything is organized, with many N. Korean "guides" that don't do any guiding, just stand watch and make sure you don't go anywhere non-approved.

    Photos are not allowed except approved sites, and specifically - no photos of soldiers, civilians, or any buildings not in the official tour (only historical buildings then). Only digital cameras allowed, as all photos were (hurriedly) reviewed upon passing through “immigration”. We weren’t allowed to talk to any N. Koreans. When we waited outside a restaurant, they closed the street about 100yards in either direction, and made all N. Koreans walk on the opposite side (4-lane street).

    Soldiers everywhere, the younger ones looked malnourished. Everyone (almost) is short, like the older generation of S. Koreans. All the street lights were missing or burnt out (outside of the special industrial area – if you don’t know what I’m talking about, Google it) No cars, there for hours and maybe saw 10 cars, all military or government. Everyone governmental or military wore a red pin featuring the smiling face of Kim Jung Ill's father. Everyone had a bicycle, all the same model that looked from the 1950s or 1960s.

    Oddly enough, it was very peaceful/idyllic though. I suppose the low, low crime rate (I imagine – given the hardcore government, and Korean culture), and, also I think Korean culture – despite being poor, everyone dressed respectably. And of course, no engine noises anywhere, or stereos, etc.

    While there I found a page out of a N. Korea novel – about how Kim Jung Ill had visited a man to compliment him on how well he conserved gasoline and maintained his car. The man was so happy Kim Jung Ill visited him, and even paid him a compliment! Sounds like a ***** awesome story, but unfortunately I only have 2 pages of it.
    Amazingly restrictive tour. It was interesting though, being in N. Korea, in the midst of 200 tourists. It looked like Disneyland at times.

    Random thoughts, but thought I’d share (or copy & paste) given the subject.

  • BobSlefty, on 06/10/2008, -1/+16the north koreans don't just limit themselves to other koreans either. between 1977 and 1983, they went on kidnapping raids along the japanese coastline, abducting dozens of japanese, including a 13 year old girl, megumi yokota. the north koreans have brazenly admitted to 13 of these abductions and claim that with the repatriation, by 2004, of 5 of them, that the matter had been resolved... they also claim that megumi yokota killed herself in 1994 and kindly returned her ashes.

    anyone interested can see more info here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_abductio ...

    and as a personal message for user cwazidorse, I'd simply like to say that if stupidity were a sin, you'd be a very bad little boy indeed...
  • Antibland, on 06/10/2008, -9/+1Isn't "flee" a young-person's verb? After sixty you just "leave."
  • lybrel, on 06/10/2008, -7/+1I went to North Korea last year through the Chinese side and it seems that everyone is so out of touch with the world outside their country, they find themselves happy.

    It's kind of like that one grandparent everyone has in their family that never watches the news and thinks the world is in peace.

    Ironic as it may seem, if you want to live in blissful ignorance, North Korea is probably one of the only places remaining. (No health care on Fiji... ahahaha)
  • npk9, on 06/10/2008, -4/+6The real question is will S. Korea take him back. Unfortunately, most times S. Korea will not take back people who have escaped N. Korea - and if they do they are mostly shunned by the S. Korean community as fear that they were converted into a spy of some sort. A lot of escapees end up in Thailand or South Eastern countries as they were smuggled and awaiting status from the S. Korean government.
    • fordhamwt, on 06/10/2008, -0/+1He did not escape North Korea, He escaped captivity. He is a South Korean. They don't take North Korean defectors, but that is not the case here.
      • fordhamwt, on 06/10/2008, -0/+1I'm not saying I know all, so correct me if I'm wrong. :)
    • lpxxfaintxx2, on 06/10/2008, -0/+1Where the ***** did you hear that? I'm South Korean, and most of us will be happy to take any North Korean. It's just being compassionate.
  • hoopy22, on 06/10/2008, -1/+6Another sad thought, if North Korea ever gets out from under the Jong Ill oppression, the people are going to be major whacked in the head. They have basically been denied the last 60 - 70 years of world history. No concept of current world culture, etc. Sad indeed, but what ya gonna do, they have 40,000 artillery pieces aimed at Seoul, and have since the end of the Korean War.
    • JackSchittt, on 06/10/2008, -1/+2They probably won't, at least not any time in the near future unless it's through military intervention, which is highly unlikely.

      Kim Jong Il's successor has probably already been selected, and it's very likely that whoever takes over once Il passes away will simply continue with the same policies that have been in place for the past 50 or so years.

      There's, what, 23 million people in that country? If they were ever exposed to the outside world, the culture shock alone would spark a humanitarian crisis that I'm not sure the region could handle.
    • LvsSocer, on 06/10/2008, -0/+2Except that the The Korean war still isn't over... it's in the middle of a cease fire.
  • Jauladeoro, on 08/27/2008, -1/+5I can't judge his situation, not having been in his shoes - but it's hard for me to imagine abandoning my spouse and children for freedom. Who knows what will become of them. They could be tortured, interrogated, jailed, punished - who knows? ... Even if the government doesn't do anything bad to them, he will be enjoying freedom for the rest of his days, and his family will not. Is he really happier now?
    • willskillz, on 06/10/2008, -2/+3Yeah, abandoning your family is never cool. No matter what the situation, but especially with this one. Sounds like he ripped a page out of McCain's playbook.
  • Coolkid11, on 06/10/2008, -1/+9This digg article is the final proof to me that this site has become far too mainstream. The amount of ignorance that is seen in the comments is appalling, and quite frankly, scary. These ignorant people symbolize the typical voter and with their almost complete lack of knowledge of foreign issues, it isn't surprising that our countries are lead by idiots. Honestly, what happened digg? In 2006, the community was actually decently smart, and most people here at least know what North Korea is, but the ignorance of some of the commentators here shows how much of a fall the community has had.
  • thereisnostate, on 06/10/2008, -2/+4Why would he want to flee a socialist utopia..
  • albatross5000, on 06/10/2008, -1/+4Bizarre. So he married and had kids while he was in North Korea, "who he had hoped would follow him - and have been arrested since his escape"... but he's "Overwhelmed with joy" because his brother is still alive in South Korea. What about the wife and kids that he "hoped would follow him" who are now in the most brutal prison system in the world? Insanity.
    • TheMachine1, on 06/10/2008, -1/+1Thats the kind of inhuman dilemma that a totalitarian system puts people in. Like in "1984" where the lead character refuses to share the chocolate bar with his starving family.
    • pootpoot, on 06/10/2008, -1/+0No.
      If you actually read the article, it is not the escapee who was overwhelmed with joy, it was his brother. It says that his brother was happy to find out that he was still alive, even after he had been missing for so many years, not the other way around.

  • TheMachine1, on 06/10/2008, -1/+2Radio's in NK have been engineered to get only a few stations. Thus blocking external transmissions is easier. I know that its easy to drive by anyone house or car and determine what frequency a radio is tune to with the right equipment. Is it possible to build a cheap shortwave radio that can not easily be detected? Get some Christian fanatics to fund the project and we might just get an information pipeline into NK.
  • scurf, on 06/10/2008, -1/+0Hmm.. Let me get this straight. He was captured by North Korea 33 years ago and lived there since (married and had children), decided to leave his wife and daughter and escape at the age of 66, putting them in great danger, and after he escaped he revealed and publicized his real name... to make sure that his family get killed? I guess he really hates them.
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.