By Daisy Luther
While some folks are cheerfully giving their freedom away in the hopes of being “safer,” the North Korean soldier who defected a by running across the border in a hail of gunfire shows us all what determination really looks like.
The shocking video below shows his pell-mell dash as he is shot numerous times. But that didn’t stop him – he continued to race across the fallen leaves like the devil was on his heels.
The North Korean soldier was hit by at least 5 rounds as he fled, but didn’t stop until he collapsed on the South Korean side of the border, where he was dragged to safety by the South Korean military.
He is in rough shape but expected to live.
Last week, doctors said the soldier sustained five gunshot wounds on his right buttock, left armpit, back shoulder, right upper arm and right knee.
After undergoing two operations to repair internal organ damage and other injuries, the defector was conscious and no longer needed a ventilator. He is expected to live.
Early in recovery, the defector reportedly communicated with doctors by blinking his eyes and changing his facial expressions, reported the South Korean newspaper Dong-a Ilbo.
Because he is showing signs of depression, he could spend several more days in intensive care.
‘As the patient is showing signs of depression due to intense psychological stress following two rounds of major surgeries, he will undergo tests for post-traumatic stress disorder,’ Lee told reporters.
‘It’s not like the patient will open his eyes and walk out of the hospital after surgery as you see in movies,’ he said.
The soldier was also found to have dozens of parasites, some as long as 10 inches, in his ruptured intestines, which may be reflective of poor nutrition and health in North Korea’s military.
‘In my over 20 year-long career as a surgeon, I have only seen something like this in a textbook,’ Lee said.
He added that the former soldier had viruses that could lead to liver cancer, and is impaired already with a number of diseases including pneumonia, sepsis and hepatitis B.
The Yonhap news agency on Tuesday cited a government official as saying that depending on medical advice, an interrogation team is expected to question the defector in four or five days’ time. (source)
The video of his daring escape was released by the UN.
Here is a map that shows the route of the North Korean soldier, who has not been named by the media.
photo credit
If my freedom was at stake, I hope that I would be that bold, because nothing is more valuable.
Watching this on the day before Thanksgiving and thinking how desperate this man was and how little actual gratitude we have in the West and America in particular.
An excess of pride and ego to little humility and gratitude in the West.
Maybe incidents like this and the consideration of what the rest of their population must suffer daily can change us we need it and soon, time is running out for all of us.
It’s amazing to see how desperate some are for FREEDOM, and it’s also amazing how we ( U.S.A.) throw it around like a used rag.
This man was so desperate for freedom, he was willing to risk not only his own life, but the lives of his entire family for freedom. Because he defected, it is likely that his family will spend the rest of their lives in a prison camp, as a “punishment” for his desire to not be ruled by the oppressive dictatorship that is ruling North Korea.
Could you escape a dictatorship, knowing that your family would be punished?