I found this simply fascinating. Sounds like this guy would make for a great movie. A horror movie, of course. Given how all these Americans in the DPRK are Southern boys, maybe I shouldn’t go visit the DMZ afterall. Next thing you know, I’ll be freezing, thinking of Dixie somewhere in the Worker’s Paradise.
PUSAN, South Korea, Oct. 17 — Even at 64 years old and in failing health, James Dresnok projects an imposing figure. Six-foot-five with a huge frame and giant jowls, he speaks into the camera with a firm, distinct Southern accent. Metal teeth glint as he talks. “I will give you the truth; I’ve never told anyone before,” says Mr. Dresnok, a former soldier, a defector and, for the last 44 years, a resident of Pyongyang, North Korea.
****
Mr. Dresnok says he is a true believer in the North Korean system. “I wouldn’t trade it for nuthin’,” he states emphatically. He is proud that two of his three sons attend the prestigious Foreign Language School in Pyongyang, saying he could never have afforded such an education in the United States. “I don’t want my sons to be an illiterate old man like me.” But he is a celebrity in North Korea, and although Pyongyang is poor by Western standards, it is the city of the elite for North Koreans. “Anyone living in Pyongyang is privileged,” Mr. Bonner said. “But the main force behind us was human interest.”
But privilege is probably not the answer to understanding why Mr. Dresnok and the other American defectors decided to build their lives in North Korea; belief is. Three of the four American defectors, with the exception of Mr. Jenkins, came from broken homes, with missing or abusive fathers. They made homes in the most extreme totalitarian state in the world, where Kim Il-sung is portrayed at the ultimate father figure for the entire nation. Even though Mr. Dresnok has numerous health problems (mostly related to his smoking and drinking, which he refuses to stop), the North Korean government provides for him and his family.
Which leads into the second time Mr. Dresnok cries in the film. While talking about the North Korean famines of the 1990’s, he says that despite the hundreds of thousands who died, the North Koreans never cut his rations. “Why? Why do they let their own people starve to death to feed an American?” he asks as he tears up. “The Great Leader has given us a special solicitude. The government is going to take care of me until my dying day.”
P.S.
The next issue of ROKon is set to come out Friday evening. Watch for it!
11 Comments
I’d like to reacquaint him with General William T. Sherman, who said, “‘Hurrah! hurrah! we bring the Jubilee!
Hurrah! hurrah! the flag that makes you free!’
So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea
As we were marching through Georgia.”
Something tells me you don’t come from south of the Mason-Dixon line…
Whatever that something is, it’s wrong.
I’m a Virginia boy, born and bred.
Seeing as the ship that was burned to the waterline in the Taedong River in 1866 (two years after Sherman’s march) was called the General Sherman, maybe there’s some kind of historical affinity here.
Not you, Shelton; I was replying to Mark.
Sewing (ref. comment #3), at least you’re not a West Virginia boy, born and inbred.
No, I’m not. The closest I come to that is having “West Virginia, My Home Sweet Home” on a bluegrass tape. I come from British Columbia, which is also mountainous, has mines, and is quirky in its own way.
Oops…I meant to say Shelton rather then Sewing. By the way, that Sherman thing is pretty damn uncanny, I must admit.
This is turning into “Who’s on first?”!
But yeah, that “General Sherman” thing has always given me a chuckle. Historical irony at its finest! I’ve been waiting for years to find the perfect time to mention that. What better place than a post about good ol’ boys in P’y&335;ngyang!?
I meant, “P’yŏngyang,” though I could also have meant “P - @#&!^ing - yang,” I guess.
So Shelton when you think of Dixie do you ever think of some family?