SEOUL • The only US soldier known still to be living in North Korea after defecting more than five decades ago died last year pledging loyalty to the “great leader Kim Jong Un”, his sons said..
SEOUL • The only US soldier known still to be living in North Korea after defecting more than five decades ago died last year pledging loyalty to the “great leader Kim Jong Un”, his sons said.
Mr James Joseph Dresnok was among just a handful of American servicemen to desert the army following the 1950-1953 Korean War, crossing the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone in 1962. He went on to appear in North Korean propaganda films and was believed to be the last US military defector in the country, the others all having died or been allowed to leave.
In a video interview posted on the state-run Uriminzokkiri website, his two adult sons Ted and James Dresnok confirmed that their father suffered a fatal stroke in November last year.
“Our father was in the arms of the republic and received the love and care of the party until his passing at age 74, ” said Mr Ted Dresnok, the older of the two.
