U.S. Air Force: “Why Are We Stationed in Korea?” — A Conversation with North Korean Defectors
Edited by | Deputy Director Woo Kwang-ho, Support Team
On June 22, 2024, four North Korean defectors and three staff members of the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights visited Osan Air Base. For about two hours, they engaged in a Q&A-style conversation with some 200 U.S. Air Force personnel about their escape from North Korea and their settlement experiences in South Korea.
How did this dialogue with defectors come about?
Early last year, Australia’s ABC News contacted our organization requesting interviews with North Korean defectors. We introduced several defectors, and the interviews focused on their escape journeys, adaptation to life in South Korea, and the reality of human rights conditions in North Korea. These interviews were later broadcasted, and U.S. Air Force officers stationed in Korea watched the program.
Concerned that many U.S. personnel were spending their deployment time in Korea without a sense of mission—simply waiting to return home—the officer corps requested a dialogue session with North Korean defectors. The goal was to help soldiers understand why they were stationed in Korea and to reinforce their sense of purpose.
Atmosphere of the event
Building on last year’s success, this year’s program was expanded to include around 200 service members who had not participated previously.
The participating defectors included one former North Korean army political officer, one former female sergeant from an anti-aircraft artillery unit, and two civilians with experience in smuggling and trading.
The two military defectors each spoke for about 15 minutes on their military service in North Korea, their motivations for defection, and their resettlement in South Korea. Afterwards, all four defectors answered questions from the audience. The atmosphere remained serious throughout, particularly when stories were shared of defecting with elderly parents or young children, which stirred both relief and sorrow among the soldiers.
One defector, now running a grilled fish restaurant in Pyeongtaek, was invited by the airmen, who promised to visit the restaurant—a moment that turned the session into a warm, encouraging exchange.
Testimonies from former North Korean military personnel
#1. Mr. Park (former North Korean Army Major)
“It is an honor to meet U.S. soldiers today. I call this an honor because after escaping North Korea’s dictatorship and experiencing freedom, I now realize that such freedom is defended by the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, and by U.S. soldiers who, under the strong Korea–U.S. alliance, come all the way from America not only to protect their own people’s safety, but also to defend us.”
Born in North Korea, Park explained how he was indoctrinated from a young age and joined the army at 17, serving for 20 years. His brother’s defection to South Korea branded his family as traitors, leading to his dismissal from the army under the guilt-by-association system. Facing discrimination and hopelessness for his children, he decided to defect in 2010 with his 74-year-old father and two young sons, ages 3 and 9.
Bribing border guards with funds accumulated during his officer service, he crossed the Yalu River into China, then traveled across China with brokers, narrowly avoiding arrest. Eventually, he was captured in Laos but released into the mountains, where local villagers helped connect him to the South Korean embassy. Recognized as a refugee, he finally resettled in South Korea.
Park recounted his service: after serving as an enlisted soldier and bodyguard at the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces, he attended Kim Il Sung Political and Military University and became a political officer, indoctrinating and monitoring soldiers to ensure loyalty to the Kim regime. Branded a traitor after his brother’s defection, he worked as a laborer in Hamhung before escaping to South Korea, where he now lives as a free citizen.
#2. Ms. Cho (former female sergeant, Anti-Aircraft Artillery Unit)
“I am someone who lived under the three hereditary successions of the Kim regime for more than 30 years. I served seven years in the military and worked as a high school teacher after graduating from a four-year university before defecting. In South Korea, I earned a degree in Business Administration from Kookmin University and now work in accounting at a company.”
Cho enlisted in 2003 and served until 2009 in a 14.5mm anti-aircraft machine gun unit. Aspiring to become a Party official, she explained that military service was mandatory for career advancement.
Life in the North Korean military was extremely harsh, especially for women. Soldiers survived on corn meals and salted vegetables, and even basic supplies were lacking. Training was brutal: “Even though our unit required six people to operate the gun, during drills we were forced to handle it alone as part of so-called multi-role training.”
She described severe swimming drills, where soldiers were not allowed to leave the water until they swam the required distance (1,000m for men, 500m for women), often resulting in drownings and deaths officially blamed on “insufficient warm-up.”
Such inhumane conditions led many soldiers to focus on survival and personal advancement rather than loyalty to the state. Cho concluded that the reality of today’s North Korean military is one where hardship erodes ideological devotion.