Do you want to be sent to Gulag of North Korea?

 Source background

In “North Korea brands UK-based defector Thae Yong-ho as 'human scum' ” defector Thae escaped from North Korea because of disgust with the authorities of the leader Kim Jeong-En, concern of his children’s future, and a longing for democracy of South Korea, whereas the North Korea government blamed him for his asylum and referred to him as a scum(2016). 

My Yes/No question is:

Do you want to be sent to Gulag of North Korea?

My answer is:

No, I don’t want to go there. 

Support

In the early Sunday morning of the June 25^th in 1950, while most South Koreans were sleeping, 198,000 or so North Korean soldiers had invaded South Korea with tanks. The heavy artillery, fired by the North Korea army, exploded abruptly everywhere. People in Seoul heard of shrill screams and dreadful gunshot with an emergency siren continuously wailing in the sky. The moment people heard sirens and the exigent announcement of news, they would have had to quickly pack their luggage to flee from the North Korean army's cannonballs and tanks. However, they hadn’t known where to go and how to avoid from the bombardment of the enemy.

The Korean War had just begun with a deafening siren and explosions. Despite Seoulites' effort to escape from enemies, they couldn’t cross the bridges on Han River, runs from west to east in the middle of Seoul, because the South Korean government already detonated them for fear that N. Korean tanks and soldiers pass the bridges and advance south. People must have felt frustrated and angry. Before long, Seoul had fallen to the enemy. Tanks and troops didn’t stop advancing until they besieged Busan, which is the second biggest city in S. Korea and as good as the southernmost part of the Korean peninsula. In other words, Korean peninsula was on the verge of blue ruin. We had no alternative but to face our destiny.

Meanwhile, there was a boy, who is 14 years old, standing on the road that leads to the Seoul from Hwang-hae province, North Korea. After his family heard the outbreak of the Korean War, they hurriedly grabbed the jewel box and tried to evacuate to South Korea because his family was being trapped by communists since 1945, in which Korea was forcibly divided into two countries, South and North; the former holds on to the idea of democracy, while the latter claims to advocate communism. His family walked to the south amid a shower of bullets. He was so hungry and scared that he couldn’t walk fast and sleep at all, and what is worse he lost his father. He also had no choice but to walk to the south. A boy in this story is my uncle-in-law.

There is another man, who is 55 years old and a diplomat of N. Korea, standing on the runway at the airport in South Korea. Two months ago, he was contacting with British intelligence agents a.k.a. MI 6 and asking MI 6 for political asylum at the golf club in Watford, the UK. Six weeks ago, elite agents (CIA) flew from Washington D.C. to London to design his exit and he was given Carte Blanche, which is completely freedom to do or choose anything you like. (Mr. Thae chose to go S. Korea) In July, he and his family were taken by RAF BAe 146 aircraft to Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. Following that, an aircraft, escorted by two fighter jets, took off for the US Air Force base at Ramstein in Germany. His family was, then, transferred to another aircraft bound for Seoul.

They have in common. My uncle-in-law is a refugee, who crossed the border with thousands of refugees, and Mr. Thae is an asylum seeker. Both fled from N. Korea because they didn’t like it. Although Mr. Thae had live in London since 2006, and propaganda of N. Korea is his work, he might have had questions of a system of communism for years. They, unfortunately, left their family members and relatives miserable in N. Korea. 35 years later, my uncle-in-law found his father, who he was living in North Korea with a new wife and their children. He tried to visit N. Korea to meet his father Actually, South Korean cannot visit North Korea unless someone is a spy. Nonetheless, he visited N. Korea twice because my uncle-in-law is American, who emigrated from S. Korea to the USA in the 1970’s, so he is not controlled by S. Korean Patriot Act. And Mr. Thae left his relatives in N. Korea. No one can tell what will happen to them, yet we already know where they are going to be sent and how they will be treated.

They would be sent Gulag, which is the name of a labor camp operated by the former Soviet Union, where political prisoners lived and were forced to work. In the present, there are many N. Korean style Gulags, which are by far the harshest labor camps in the world. No enough food, no decent clothes, and no freedom with battering, whipping and starvation. The last stop without exit or a blind end should be the real name. I could only feel pity for what the N. Korean people are enduring. They cannot help crying, yet they cannot cry out loud because they are not allowed to express their feeling freely. For our descent and for the world peace, N. Koreans should be freed and live happily.

65 years ago, if it had not been for military assistance of the Allied forces, South Korea could not have developed our economy and I would have been sent to Gulag under the totalitarian regime. During the Korean War (1950~1953), Most Koreans know how many civilians died or were killed, and how many soldiers shed blood in Korean Peninsula. More than 40 countries helped us and 16 countries among them dispatched their troops including Australia (A.D.F.) and Thailand (R.T.A.F.); 17,000 Australian soldiers were dispatched, and 339 soldiers died, and 1,200 wounded, and 11,786 Thai soldiers engaged in warfare, and 130 soldiers died, and 1,100 were injured. They tried to help and shed their blood for Koreans, democracy, and freedom. They fought and died right here where my family, my people, and I are breathing, sleeping and living. What an overwhelming and a sob story in the world. Every time I read about the Korean War, I cry over and over again. I cannot stop being moved to tears. We have never forgotten the Korean War and sacrifice of the Allied Forces. (2016).

Mr. Thae welcome to Korea. Australia and Thailand, thank you so much. We will never forget your sacrifice. Thank you again.

___________

References

Australia in the Korean War. (2016, February 19). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:49, August 23, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Australia_in_the_Korean_War&oldid=705762331

Carte blanche. (2016, July 13). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:29, August 23, 2016, fromhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carte_blanche&oldid=729662608

Giannangeli, M. (2016, August 21). REVEALED: North Korean defector met British spies on golf course in WATFORD. Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. Retrieved from http://www.sundayexpress.co.uk/news/world/702199/North-Korean-diplomat-defected-Thae-Young-Ho-south-london-marks-spencer

Gulag. (2016, August 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:35, August 23, 2016, fromhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gulag&oldid=735819054

Korean War. (2016, August 19). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:54, August 23, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Korean_War&oldid=735319477

Thailand in the Korean War. (2016, August 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:50, August 23, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thailand_in_the_Korean_War&oldid=732968200

Tong-Hyung, K. (2016, August 20). North Korea calls diplomat defector ‘human scum’. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/north-korea-calls-diplomat-defector-human-scum/2016/08/20/67167eca-66b3-11e6-b4d8-33e931b5a26d_story.html