Mike Breen — thinking outside the box — suggests a possible explanation to the recent shooting of a South Korean tourist in the Geumgang Mountains.
Namely, the guards might have thought she was a North Korean trying to make it onto the foreign-tourist-only beach:
If they knew she was a South Korean woman, they must have thought she was up to no good, or they wouldn’t have killed her. But, by killing her, they’d would never know what she was up to. What if she was a spymaster sneaking back from an all-night meeting with local agents? It’s possible North Korean authorities are torturing local villagers for this information as we speak. Or, what if she was a North Korean spy sneaking back from a meeting with her controller? Then it’s possible the guards are being tortured.
Either way, it makes sense that they only found out she was a southerner after the murder. The most likely explanation for this event is that the guards shot Ms. Park thinking she was a North Korean.
There is some dispute about how far she got along the beach before turning back. But it is clear that she was shot from behind as she was running back towards the beach she had come from. If the guards were not tracking her, they may not have realized this. Instead of seeing a woman running from an off-limits section to an approved section of beach, they may have assumed the opposite: that she was a North Korean running to a beach that was off-limits because it was for foreign tourists only.
Makes a lot more sense if you think about this way, doesn’t it?
Read the rest on your own.
26 Comments
I am skeptical that the guards would have mistaken her for a North Korean. There are a number of documented cases of South Korean tourists wandering past the humble green fence, including six people on the same tour as Ms. Park. The earliest possible time of death is now 5 AM, definitely light enough to see her clothes. Besides, if a North Korean were to get into the resort, how would they get out? IDs are checked very carefully. One recent visitor recounted a story of being detained and having his ID confirmed while he was jogging early in the morning within the resort.
It would make more sense that this is exactly the excuse the guards and the DPRK government will use, but not the actual reason…
I’m sorry, but this Mike Breen is either a leftist, or a fool, or doesn’t have a clue about the situation.
Villagers were removed from the mount long time ago and the area is barbed-wired and heavily guarded. Even if some james-bond North Korean peasant manages somehow his way out of there, he wouldn’t do it through the military zone and surely not at dawn. Even if he gets out, there are a hundred ways to get him back, because North Korean minders and soldiers are everywhere.
Mrs Park was not shot by a regularly infantryman, her murder was deliberate and carefully planned. There have been numerous cases like this before and North Korean infantrymen have never fired or injured anyone - something they simply do NOT have the authority to do. Not in Mt Geumgang.
Here is what really happened, revealed by North Korean defectors:
http://www.dailynk.com/english.....p;num=3859
http://www.dailynk.com/english.....p;num=3864
#1 Exactly. In other cases where they knew they were SKs, they didn’t shot them. As for how an NK would get out, a guard wouldn’t be thinking about that.
#2 The opposite is more likely. NKs can’t say “Oh, we thought she was one of ours”
How many fat North Korean Ajjumas are there? How many ribs poking through their shirts skinny south Korean ajjumas are there?
Seems like it would be pretty easy to figure out where the tresspasser is from.
Judging by photos, Ms. Park was slim. Nevertheless, it is highly unlikely for reasons listed in previous comments that she was mistaken as North Korean.
Dimitar,
I don’t know if Breen is right, but you are not only way off base, you’re showing your ass while speculating.
Obviously, you’ve never been there. Local villagers are everywhere. There are even ‘crossing guards’ at intersections between walking paths for locals and the sidewalks for tourists. There are also a number of Norks that work at the park but are housed separately, and who could wander off just as easily- prob’ly w/ similar results- as southern Adjs.
I don’t care how conniving your malnourished little special forces are, I still can’t get how they carefully planned for the woman to wander over to thier side of the sand dune…lured over by a staged visor sale? And who are these special soldiers? Ah, the ones trained for DMZ guard. And who says so? Ah, the Nork who sauntered unscathed across the DMZ…
The shooting was tragic, but the woman went where she shouldn’t have been and it ended badly for her. No conspiracy. Ever see 해안선? How many Norks would South Korea let come over and inspect in the event of a shooting on the South side of the DMZ?
The diplomatic repercussions from this are unfortunately large, but this was nothing more than a very unlucky set of circumstances.
“unlucky”?
Since when has getting shot in the back “unlucky”? Try criminal and, yes, it was cold-blooded and cowardly.
Have you been there before “Kevin”?
It makes sense. We’ve all seen pictures of North Korean soldiers acting like morons along the border with China. It’s quite possible that some idiot mistook her for a North Korean fleeing or trying to make contact with the tourists (not to say that it would have been any less wrong if she had been North Korean). After all, isn’t the North Korean army’s prime objective population control?
Criminal, cold-blooded and cowardly. Absolutely.
Are you saying crime victims aren’t unlucky? Maybe she dressed for it, eh?
And yes, I’ve been there more times than you might imagine. And have seen many a local up close and personally, which is why I called him out on his comment, “R. Elgin”.
It does make sense. We’ve all seen pictures of North Korean soldiers acting like morons along the Chinese border. I wouldn’t be surprised if an equally stupid guard mistook her for a North Korean who was either trying to seek asylum or a spy trying to make contact with her South Korean handler. As Mike Breen says, the North Korean armed forces and its fortified borders are there to keep people in, not keep people out.
I can’t wait to visit Pyongyang this September, I’ll be sure not to run around at 4.30 in the morning.
#8
Criminal, cold-blooded and cowardly. Absolutely.
But are you saying crime victims aren’t unlucky? Maybe she dressed for it, eh?
And yes, I’ve been there more times than you might imagine. And have seen many a local, up close and personally, which is why I called him out on his comment, “R. Elgin”.
Whatever Mike Breen is, he makes his statements under his own name. When Dimitar or anyone else draws a line in the sand by insisting Breen is a leftist or fool (God, those must be the worst things one could be), he’s definitely operating on false bravado, is probably a right wing nut, and what was that other one….?
The Chinese border is a long-established and most-used escape route. I’ve never heard that North Koreans are sneaking into the South via Geumgangsan, and lack of a secure fence between the resort and restricted areas is evidence that defection hasn’t been a problem. Moreover, a number of South Korean tourists have wandered past the flimsy green fence into the restricted area where Park was shot.
There is nothing unlucky about not building a more secure fence to keep out wandering tourists. Ms. Park wasn’t the first to cross, but she was the first to get shot.
More likely it was a powere and control message to SK.
#14, Dimitar IS my real name. I can tell you my address too, but what’s the point of it?
And since when caring about people’s lives makes me a right-wing nut?
I stand behind my words. In SK media we can still see this leftist ideas break through. First she shouldn’t have been there. And now they’re saying that they actually thought she was North Korean! LMAO! I’ll tell you how an article from tomorrow will look like (again by the same author):
“Mrs Park was wandering on the beach when she stumbled and fell down; at the same time 2 metal meteorites fell from the sky and killed her. The North Korean soldiers went there to give her first aid by making her a special boot-heart massage by kicking her in the ribs”.
The saddest thing is that South Koreans still can’t figure out that the NKs are capable of doing anything “bad”, because you see? they’re our BROTHERS. How could they kill someone intentionally? It must be the foreigners fault! It must be her fault! What was she doing there? Blame her!
And, Tripod, I’ve acted like a moron many times, but I haven’t killed anyone. “Acting like a moron” doesn’t equal “being a murderer”. Those are 2 completely different things.
Kevin, will you care to explain why on earth someone who is already in the tourist area will come back to the military base?
Sure, there are NKs in the resort, but I can assure you they know the exact location of the military base. Why, if you want to escape and you’re already out of military reach, will some refugee GO BACK to the military base and THEN head to the south?
It makes no sense at all.
The real problem is that SK media never has the balls to call events by their names. For them when a Korean does it: murder->accident. When a foreigner does it: accident->murder. They’re ready to find the most ludicrous story just to continue the “sunshine” policy.
From the other side, DailyNK has never been afraid to show things the way they are. They have so deeply infiltrated the North Korean society by their relatives and family members that I won’t be surprised if they soon find the name of the shooter.
Mind my words.
Sounds like Mike Breen reads Dave’s ESL cafe’s forums.
The whole idea about them thinking she might have been fleeing North Korea does not makes sense. The reason it does not make sense is the fact that she was originally walking toward them in the direction of North Korea. what person attempts to flee in the direction of what they are fleeing from?
RE: #10,13, Sorry for the double post- I thought my computer had seized up.
RE: #17: “Kevin, will you care to explain why on earth someone who is already in the tourist area will come back to the military base?
Sure, there are NKs in the resort, but I can assure you they know the exact location of the military base. Why, if you want to escape and you’re already out of military reach, will some refugee GO BACK to the military base and THEN head to the south?”
Um, not sure exactly what you’re refuting/asking, but I’ll give it a whirl:
First,”…back to the military base” is a bit misleading. That “military base” is better known as “the rest of North Korea”. Its the tourist complex that’s a ‘base’. In addition, if a nork had been in the complex, she would not have been “already out of military reach”, as has already been pointed out by others. “Escaping” to the resort is not an option, as Hyundai-Asan would hand her right back.
I’m comforted that you can “assure” me of what the norks at the complex know. I’ll repay in kind by assuring you that anyone who has lived in South Korea for 50 years should know the exact location of North Korea, yet here we have one that thought a man-made dune at the end of fence at the edge of an oasis surrounded by a military state might be OK to wander across.
I don’t know why someone already in the complex would cross that dune, regardless of which Korea they’re from, and I’m not arguing with your criticism of the handling of the situation by the ROK gov or press, or with “R. Elgin” ’s labels of the soldier who shot her.
I’m just saying that this was no conspiracy, and, in fact, what is more surprising than this happening now is that it hadn’t happened already. I’m more inclined to put this on an inexperienced and therefore unconfident soldier. The North’s cover-up, feet dragging, etc. is pretty much par for the course, but the incident was just a tragedy of circumstances.
Don’t “assure” me- it makes an ass out of u and, um…never mind.
She wasn’t the first to cross. One wonders why the Norks and Hyundai didn’t put up a more secure fence. Looking at a photo of the area, I would never guess that a military installation lay beyond the fence, nevermind a North Korean one.
Sonagi,
Others have crossed? When, and how did you hear of this?
Various Korean media have reported that six people went into the forbidden area 1-2 days earlier than Ms. Park. Back in October? a minister was detained while his ID was verified, and then he was released.
In NK, nobody acts on his own. He asks his boss, double and triple time, because if something goes wrong he gets blamed.
Typical bureaucracy.
This was no accident. It was staged.
The victim was picked. Lured and killed.
To show LMB that NK can kill.
LMB and KJI are playing the game of chicken, brinkmanship.
LMB will win.
I envy N. Koreans. They can kill innocent people whenever they want and don’t have to appologize. lol
I think Michael Breen is probably right. DPRK has shown plenty of instances of incompetence. Right now the story seems to be that a 17 year old female recruit shot her… who knows… noone will ever know for sure since noone will investigate this aside from DPRK…
I think though, if DPRK wanted to “send a message” they would have chosen something more direct… Like say… launching a Taepodong over Japan… or detonating another nuclear bomb underground… or maybe even shooting a South Korean tourist in broad day light execution style in the Hyundai-Asan side of the fence…