With North Korean refugees hopping foreign embassy walls in Beijing in desperate bids for freedom, a 51-year-old Korean man jumped the fence of the Japanese embassy today in search of a better life.
Unfortunately, the man was South Korean, the embassy was in Seoul, and the unfortunate figure was detained by police soon afterwards:
He insisted he was compelled to enter the embassy compound after spotting the Japanese flag on the roof of the embassy building, said an officer at Chongno Police Station.
What he actually said was that he was out buying a book on Jongno when he was suddenly overcome by a sense of severe insecurity. When he saw the embassy, he said, he decided to make a break for it.
Who among us hasn’t wanted to do that?
8 Comments
Priceless.
Microcosm.
It’s very interesting how the English version of the events differs from the Korean version.
He is, perhaps, like one of the animals in the forest who senses the approach of catastrophe and flees. He may be the first of many . . . not to sound badukian but one can ignore reality for so long before it catches up.
Yeah, you do sound more than a bit like baduk. I think it’s the whole vaguely threatening words that hint at the apocalypse or something that does it.
Exactly. Sometimes ones’ instincts tell us things, only to have their rational mind explain them away until it is too late to react.
The Korean-English language disconnect is interesting, though. I wonder why they would do that…
Anyone consider PTSD?