Comments on: You mean to tell me that seven people got into this open boat, drifted South “accidentally, braved nine-foot waves, and now want to go back to North Korea? http://freekorea.us/2009/12/22/you-mean-to-tell-me-that-seven-people-got-into-this-open-boat-drifted-south-accidentally-braved-nine-foot-waves-and-now-want-to-go-back-to-north-korea/ Wed, 23 May 2012 15:07:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Vitamin Water http://freekorea.us/2009/12/22/you-mean-to-tell-me-that-seven-people-got-into-this-open-boat-drifted-south-accidentally-braved-nine-foot-waves-and-now-want-to-go-back-to-north-korea/comment-page-1/#comment-70050 Vitamin Water Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:05:39 +0000 http://www.freekorea.us/2009/12/22/you-mean-to-tell-me-that-seven-people-got-into-this-open-boat-drifted-south-accidentally-braved-nine-foot-waves-and-now-want-to-go-back-to-north-korea/#comment-70050 guess is that this some sort of grassroots, subversive North Korean tourism project: "tourists" set off in boats, pretending to go fishing. Then, they “accidently” cross the NLL, get picked up by South Korean naval forces and get a quick tour of Seoul before heading back. A perfect day trip! Does anyone know what happens to the repatriaters after they get back? Are they cloistered away from society and sent to the concentration camps because they’ve “seen too much” or are treated as heroes for choosing to return home? Or something else... I would guess the former. guess is that this some sort of grassroots, subversive North Korean tourism project: “tourists” set off in boats, pretending to go fishing. Then, they “accidently” cross the NLL, get picked up by South Korean naval forces and get a quick tour of Seoul before heading back. A perfect day trip!

Does anyone know what happens to the repatriaters after they get back? Are they cloistered away from society and sent to the concentration camps because they’ve “seen too much” or are treated as heroes for choosing to return home? Or something else…

I would guess the former.

]]> By: a listener http://freekorea.us/2009/12/22/you-mean-to-tell-me-that-seven-people-got-into-this-open-boat-drifted-south-accidentally-braved-nine-foot-waves-and-now-want-to-go-back-to-north-korea/comment-page-1/#comment-70047 a listener Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:32:04 +0000 http://www.freekorea.us/2009/12/22/you-mean-to-tell-me-that-seven-people-got-into-this-open-boat-drifted-south-accidentally-braved-nine-foot-waves-and-now-want-to-go-back-to-north-korea/#comment-70047 Maybe they wanted to get back home and listen to Beyonce http://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/11/11/sweet-dreams-of-beyonce-in-n-korean-peoples-paradise/8247/ Maybe they wanted to get back home and listen to Beyonce

http://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/11/11/sweet-dreams-of-beyonce-in-n-korean-peoples-paradise/8247/

]]> By: Joshua Stanton http://freekorea.us/2009/12/22/you-mean-to-tell-me-that-seven-people-got-into-this-open-boat-drifted-south-accidentally-braved-nine-foot-waves-and-now-want-to-go-back-to-north-korea/comment-page-1/#comment-70042 Joshua Stanton Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:48:07 +0000 http://www.freekorea.us/2009/12/22/you-mean-to-tell-me-that-seven-people-got-into-this-open-boat-drifted-south-accidentally-braved-nine-foot-waves-and-now-want-to-go-back-to-north-korea/#comment-70042 You must have skipped over the parts where I said, "I suppose anything is possible," and "[m]y suspicions may be paranoid." You must have skipped over the parts where I said, “I suppose anything is possible,” and “[m]y suspicions may be paranoid.”

]]> By: Martianka http://freekorea.us/2009/12/22/you-mean-to-tell-me-that-seven-people-got-into-this-open-boat-drifted-south-accidentally-braved-nine-foot-waves-and-now-want-to-go-back-to-north-korea/comment-page-1/#comment-70040 Martianka Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:34:38 +0000 http://www.freekorea.us/2009/12/22/you-mean-to-tell-me-that-seven-people-got-into-this-open-boat-drifted-south-accidentally-braved-nine-foot-waves-and-now-want-to-go-back-to-north-korea/#comment-70040 There are any number of possibilities and it is not at all necessary that they are refugees desperate to re-settle in the South as you appear to conclude. They could have been out fishing or diving for oysters or something else along those lines. It could be some kind of DPRK dummy defection or test... They could be spies. These people may be strong supporters of the regime (probably a prerequisiste for living in the border area) or they could simply be regular people who want to return for family reasons; supposedly they've got friends, family a house and jobs. There IS something resembling a middle class there and the people who belong to that group probably do not want to defect even though the sight of the relative affluence of South Korea was probably a surprise to them. It might all have happened by chance and they genuinely had trouble making up their minds. There are any number of possibilities and it is not at all necessary that they are refugees desperate to re-settle in the South as you appear to conclude.

They could have been out fishing or diving for oysters or something else along those lines. It could be some kind of DPRK dummy defection or test… They could be spies.
These people may be strong supporters of the regime (probably a prerequisiste for living in the border area) or they could simply be regular people who want to return for family reasons; supposedly they’ve got friends, family a house and jobs.

There IS something resembling a middle class there and the people who belong to that group probably do not want to defect even though the sight of the relative affluence of South Korea was probably a surprise to them. It might all have happened by chance and they genuinely had trouble making up their minds.

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