N. Korea Still Hasn’t Caught Border Guards Who Deserted

You will recall that 20 of them dropped their weapons,  deserted,  and crossed over to China.  It looks like they’ve been successful in evading capture so far:

A North Korean source from the district of Onsung said on the 8th “20 or so people who looked like secret agents formed a group at Sambong Customs. These people and a soldier which looked like their captain had received orders and were preparing to cross over to China. He said “It seems that North Korean authorities are sending additional agents as there are a lot of guards who defected yet the arrests are slow.

Further, he added “North Korean authorities are concerned that the escaped guards will defect to the 3rd world countries if the arrests are further delayed” and “The fact that North Korean authorities are sending additional agents to China just goes to show how seriously they’re considering this case.   [Daily NK]

The report claims that the Chinese security forces are assisting them.  The usual and obvious  cautions about this report apply.  It’s not as if there are abundant means to check  the veracity of  sources and reports.

I’ll try to remember to put up a Google Earth of that area later.  It’s one of the bleakest parts of North Korea, resembling a bombed-out industrial wasteland, complete with blown bridges over the Tumen River.  See, for example,  this post on North Korea’s  “ghost cities.”  The second image in that post is from the vicinity of Onsong.