North Korean Soldier Shot In Border Blitz Wakes Up … Here’s What He Had To Say Ryan Pickrell China/Asia Pacific Reporter 8:14 AM 11/21/2017
The North Korean soldier who was shot multiple times fleeing into South Korea at the border has regained consciousness, according to South Korean reports.
“Is this actually South Korea? I want to hear South Korean songs,” the man said after waking up in a South Korean medical facility, presumably curious as to whether or not he made it to the South, the Dong-a Ilbo introduced. The medical staff hung the South Korean flag in the man’s hospital room to comfort him, Yonhap News Agency revealed.
The suspected staff sergeant in his 20s made a mad dash into the South in the Joint Security Area at the Demilitarized Zone last Monday. His comrades, apparently using weaponry not permitted in the JSA, opened fire on the defector. Amid a barrage of bullets, the young man’s brazen blitz was successful.
After collapsing in a pile of leaves, he was rescued by South Korean military personnel and airlifted to Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, South Korea, where he underwent two major surgeries to remove the bullets, pull roundworms from the man’s intestine, and combat infection, blood poisoning, and Hepatitis B.
The man appears to be recovering, but he is not quite out of the woods just yet.
“The soldier has regained consciousness and he requested to watch television,” a South Korean government official revealed to the Yonhap News Agency. “For the soldier’s psychological comfort, we’ve shown the patient South Korean movies and he has recovered enough to watch television.”
“The defector is able to express his thoughts to medical staff,” the official explained, “At this moment, we think that the patient has overcome a serious condition, [but] the defector is suffering from fear and heavy stress from the gunshots that wounded him.” The medical personnel tasked with the soldier’s care are treating mental scars as well as physical ailments.
Follow Ryan on Twitter
Illegitimi non Carborundum
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.- Orwell
The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it - Orwell
I remember when they attacked a U.S. work party with axe handles. I believe they killed at least one U.S. soldier. when I was there ['68-'69], they shot down one of our planes, opened fire on a work detail next company over on the DMZ [killed at least one outright], and killed 14 of us. Our response? Zip. Nada. Zero.
It's not whether the glass is half full, or half empty. It's who's buying the drinks...