By
and
July 4, 2020, The Wall Street Journal
Roh Chol Min, who slipped across the fortified border, describes an army life of corruption, hunger—and dedication to ‘Supreme Leader’ Kim Jong Un
SEOUL—They were supposed to represent North Korea’s fighting elite. Dispatched to Korea’s demilitarized zone roughly three years ago, Roh Chol Min was a new recruit on the front lines. He sized up his fellow 46 soldiers in the unit and saw men like himself: tall, young and connected.
Mr. Roh had won the coveted position, in the late summer of 2017, owing to his sharpshooting skills and height; at 5-feet-8-inches he is unusually tall for North Korea. But when he attended his first target practice, he was stunned. Nobody else had bothered to show up. His compatriots had bribed senior officers to avoid the drill.
What Mr. Roh came to learn—and what ultimately drove him to defect to South Korea—was a distinction that separated him from his elite comrades. Unlike them, he lacked the money to buy better treatment, faster promotions, reprieve from training and even enough food to keep from going hungry. “I saw no future for myself,” he says.
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