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Defected North Korean soldier craves for Choco Pie

Posted December. 01, 2017 08:59,   

Updated December. 01, 2017 09:46

한국어

Oh Cheong-seong (age 25), the North Korean soldier who was wounded while defecting across the Joint Security Area and currently hospitalized at Ajou University Hospital, was recently transferred from the ICU to the general ward. “I would like to eat Choco Pie,” said the soldier to the medical team.

When asked how he knew of the snack, he replied that he had heard that there were plentiful in the Kaesong Industrial Complex. The popular snack first introduced to the North during the early 2000s via the industrial zone that was jointly operated by South Korea and North Korea.

Oh’s remark reminded the medical team of the movie JSA (released in 2000). In the movie, actor Song Kang-ho and Shin Ha-gyun, who appear as North Korean soldiers, look amazed at the South Korean snack and eagerly gulp them down. Unfortunately, Oh was not able to eat the pies. Though his condition is improving, he is able to eat only fluids and watery kimchi.

Oh’s condition is still unstable. Though he showed symptoms of hepatitis B and pneumonia, he had been unaware of his infection of hepatitis B, which is infected by virus and quite preval‎ent in North Korea.



Ki-Beom Kwon kaki@donga.com