In an interview with a Japanese newspaper, Oh Chong-song revealed he is the son of a military generalHe said many people are totally indifferent to the political leadership<\/b>
\nThe North Korean soldier who defected to the South in a hail of bullets last year is a general\u2019s son but says most Northerners of his age have no loyalty to Kim Jong-un, according to a Japanese newspaper.
Oh Chong-song\u2019s dramatic dash across the border at the Panmunjom truce village in the demilitarised zone \u2013 under fire from his comrades \u2013 made global headlines last year, and saw him hospitalised with serious injuries.
It is very rare for the North\u2019s troops to defect at Panmunjom, a major tourist attraction and the only place on the frontier where forces from the two sides come face-to-face.
The 25-year-old Oh is the son of a major-general, Japan\u2019s Sankei Shimbun reported, in what it said was the defector\u2019s first media interview.
But despite his privileged birth \u2013 he described himself as \u201cupper class\u201d \u2013 he felt no allegiance to the North\u2019s leadership.
\u201cInside the North, people, and especially the younger generation, are indifferent to each other, politics and their leaders, and there is no sense of loyalty.\u201d
He was \u201cindifferent\u201d to the rule of Kim Jong-un, the third generation of the Kim family to lead the North, and had no interest in how his friends felt about it.
\u201cProbably 80 per cent of my generation is indifferent and has no loyalty,\u201d he was quoted as saying.
\u201cIt is natural to have no interest nor loyalty since the hereditary system is taken as a given, regardless of its inability to feed people.\u201d
Oh denied media reports in the South that he was wanted for murder in the North.
After some unspecified trouble with friends, the Sankei said, he started drinking. On his way back to his post he broke through a checkpoint and, fearing execution, decided to keep going.
\u201cI feared I could be executed if I went back so I crossed the border,\u201d he was quoted as saying, adding he had no regrets about defecting.
The newspaper said Japanese intelligence officials had confirmed Oh\u2019s identity.
A short clip posted by the Sankei Shimbun on its website shows him wearing a black jacket and a white top, speaking with a slight North Korean accent. His face is not revealed.
The geopolitical landscape around the Korean peninsula has shifted dramatically since last year when US President Donald Trump threatened to rain \u201cfire and fury\u201d on the nuclear-armed North Korea.
\u201cI really felt that we were on the verge of war with the US,\u201d Oh was quoted as saying. \u201cThe tension [that I felt] trickled down from the top.\u201d
Now a rapid rapprochement has taken hold on the peninsula and troops in the border truce village where he defected are to be disarmed.
Oh said he understands the former comrades who shot him.
\u201cIf they didn\u2019t shoot they would face heavy punishment,\u201d he said. \u201cSo if I was them, I would have done the same.\u201d<\/p>\n