"I don't want to leave here, even if I am given a billion dollars worth of gold. ”
This sentence came from an American GI, and what he said here did not refer to European and American countries, but to the socialist country - North Korea.
An American GI defected to North Korea, and in the face of a completely different social system, he could only force himself to forget everything that had happened before, gradually adapt to the present, and accept the new social system and new ideals and beliefs.
Time flies, he successfully integrates himself into this socialist country, he falls in love with the place, with the land and with the way of life.
In the eyes of foreigners, he is a "bad seed" who defected.
But in the eyes of North Koreans, he is a special people who are "household names", and he is the protagonist we are talking about today - James Joseph Dressnock.
Before going to court martial, he crossed the border and came to North Korea.
More than 40 years later, he tells everyone about these 40 years of life and his current experience, in his own words, from a capitalist puppet to a socialist believer.
Why did the American soldier come to North Korea, how did he adapt to life in North Korea, and what kind of story did he tell in the documentary?
Let's find out today!
A defection without regrets
Here's what he had to say about his defection:
"I was so scared, I didn't want to go to court-martial, so I crossed the border at night and came here, there was no embassy here willing to take me in, I had to force myself to adapt to this place gradually, slowly integrate here, now I am very happy, I never regret my defection. ”
After listening to his explanation, many people wondered, wouldn't he miss his relatives at home if he didn't return to his hometown for a long time?
Of course not, the specific reason for this has to start with his life experience.
Born in 1941, Dresnok has not seen his parents for as long as he can remember, let alone know anything about them, he is an orphan who was abandoned by his parents at birth, and a homeless man picked him up and sent him to a welfare home.
Later, the welfare home sent him to the home of his adoptive parents, and before arriving at his new family, he had expectations for "home" in his heart.
He remembered the families who came to the welfare home to do charity, with the parents holding the child in their arms, with a happy smile on their faces, which was probably the feeling of home, and with the longing for home, he came to the adoptive parents' house.
But reality gave him a hard blow.
There is no imaginary fatherly and maternal love, there are just endless beatings and abuse, he has become a "punching bag" for his adoptive parents, who beat and scolded him at every turn, and sometimes refused to give him food.
His life at his adoptive parents' home was even worse than his life in the welfare home, and he was so angry that he tried to escape the family many times, but in the end he was arrested and beaten.
Years later, he recounted that scene again, with fear in his eyes, and his unhappy childhood was a pain that he could never forget for the rest of his life.
Later, because of his military service, he finally managed to break away from the family.
From then on, everything seemed to be on the right path, he got rid of his brutal adoptive parents, and after two years of military service, he followed the army to the Korean Peninsula.
During this period, he met his lover, and the two quickly fell in love and had a happy married life, but it didn't take long for his wife to leave him because she was fed up with this life away from home.
Abandoned again, Dressnock is completely confused, he doesn't understand why he is always abandoned, when he was young, his parents abandoned him, and after he got married, his lover abandoned him.
He was completely depraved, indulging in the gentle country every day, spending most of his salary in the land of fireworks, and later sneaking out while on duty.
Over time, his actions aroused the resentment of other U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, who secretly played pranks on Dresnok many times, and the only way for Dresnok to vent after this was to continue to go to the land of fireworks.
His actions were reported to his superiors, who warned him that if these things happened again, he would be brought to court martial for trial!
Only then did Dresnock know that he had to go to a court-martial, and he was afraid of the court-martial, and he was terrified all day long.
He was immersed in the fear of being court-martial every day, he did not want to be repatriated, he did not want to go to court-martial, and he did not want to remain in this impersonal army.
So he turned his gaze to the other side, if he went to North Korea, would he be able to escape all this?
Thinking of this, he began to plot how to defect out of fear of court-martials, to find the right moment, and to make sure that he would not be shot dead by the North Korean garrison when he crossed the border.
One afternoon in 1962, when it was finally his turn to be on duty, he took advantage of the fact that others were going to eat, and under the pretext of continuing to be on duty, he began to run in the direction of North Korea when he was the only one around.
Under the feet are countless mines, opposite North Korean snipers.
Luckily, he happened to avoid every mine, and the North Korean snipers on the opposite side mistook him for a spy and instead killed him, they captured him alive.
After being captured alive, Dresnock identified himself, and after a search by the North Korean army, it was determined that this person was really just an inferior soldier.
The North Korean soldiers did not embarrass him, they reported the matter, and the upper echelons made reasonable arrangements for Dresnock, found him a place to stay, and recommended him a simple job.
Dressnock, who first arrived in North Korea, had many discomforts, he was not Xi to the rhythm of life here, although it was warm, but it was too monotonous, and Dressnok, who was Xi to the drunken life of capitalism, wanted to seek asylum in the embassy and leave here.
Adapting to a very different life
He went to the embassy, but no country's embassy was willing to take him in, so he had no choice but to continue to live here, living a monotonous life.
Unexpectedly, the embassy told the North Korean ruler about his visit to seek asylum, and Dresnok fell into a panic again when he learned the news.
He remembered the strange look in which North Koreans looked at him when he walked down the street, and he was an "alien" here after all, an "alien" who would not be accepted.
He squatted at home every day, waiting for the North Koreans to be judged, and it was not long before a few North Korean soldiers finally arrived, and just when Dresnock thought he was going to be taken away for trial, the soldiers took out an envelope.
"We have a basic allowance for people living in poverty here, and this is your basic allowance. ”
Dressnock stretched out his hands tremblingly, he didn't expect that what he was waiting for was not a trial, but a subsidy from North Korea.
The soldier explained: "Before, you didn't receive the subsidy because the government ignored your place of origin, but now the government has helped you change your place of origin, and you can receive the subsidy every month in the future, which is issued by the government to all poor citizens of North Korea."
Dressnock took the money and burst into tears, it wasn't much, but it made him feel warm when he was a child.
He never imagined that the North Koreans would forgive him so generously and apply for a poverty grant for him, which was a care he had never felt.
He made up his mind again to stay here, although he would still be looked at by all kinds of strange eyes when he walked down the street, but compared to the previous awkwardness, he had learned to accept it calmly.
Later, when a reporter asked him about this past, he said proudly: "Since then, I have become a real communist fighter." ”
A reporter once asked him about his understanding of communism, and he replied with a smile:
"When Kim Il Sung met me, he told me that he was a communist because he loved his country, he loved his party, and he wanted to lead everyone, including me, to communism. ”
"Everyone says I'm a traitor to America, only he doesn't think so, he thinks I just chose what I like!"
When Dresnok spoke of this conversation, he was full of gratitude, and he was very grateful to Kim Il Sung for affirming him, and he was also very grateful to the North Korean people for accepting him.
He sincerely accepted the baptism of communism and became a communist.
Soon after, the government introduced him to a new job - actor.
Since then, he has begun to appear frequently in various TV series, although his role is single, and he will only play the role of an American soldier.
With the popularity of various TV dramas, he has become a household name in North Korea.
Gradually, the North Koreans thoroughly accepted this particular American defector and considered him their comrade.
However, the U.S. side was dissatisfied with his frequent role as an American soldier in TV dramas, and they criticized Dresnock for maliciously vilifying the image of Americans.
A simple counterattack made the scolding of him on the Internet die down.
Dresnok has lived in North Korea for a long time, and he is even more tired of the hypocritical life of capitalism, and the reporter once asked: Don't you think about going home?
"I thought about it, but it was just a way of traveling, simply going back to see, not stopping, there is no place I miss there, this is my hometown. ”
Dresnok shared with reporters his current life, he is not only an actor, but also a teacher, although Dresnok himself is not highly educated, but he is proficient in Korean and English.
As a result, he became an English teacher, teaching students spoken English.
He talked about his students with smiles on his face: those children were full of whimsical ideas, they would ask all kinds of strange questions, sometimes I couldn't answer them, their world was so simple and kind and lovely, a candy could make them happy for a long time, and every time I saw them, I was very happy because I was sure that they would be the backbone of communism in the future!
"Taking root and sprouting", 100 million gold will not be changed
Adapting to life in North Korea, he established his own small family in North Korea, and he met the lover he wanted to join hands with for the rest of his life.
Soon after marriage, the two had their first child, because his childhood was not happy, so he wanted to do his best to give the child the best childhood.
He took his children to play games that he had never played in his childhood, and saw all the rivers, lakes and seas of North Korea, which also made up for the vacancy of his childhood in a sense.
Soon after, his wife gave birth to a son for him, and his life would have been happy, but what he didn't expect was that a sudden illness took away his lover.
Seeing his wife lying on the bed, he was very sad, in order to accompany his wife, he quit all his job, and in his wife's last days, he made up for all his wife's previous regrets.
Originally, two lonely souls finally found each other, but one of them left first, and Dresnok lost his lover again.
Years later, he met another girl, who accompanied him for the rest of his life, and he shared his life with reporters, although he was not rich, but he had a stable happiness.
His wife has a gentle personality and is very patient with herself and her children, and when he talks about his wife, his face is full of happiness, "I think I love her and this country, this is a lifetime thing." ”
"Do you foreigners have to go through such a long process of adapting to life here?"
"I'm not a foreigner, I'm a North Korean!" Dresnok retorted, "I'm a North Korean, my family is also North Korean, there are no foreigners here!"
Dresnock told reporters:
"I won't leave here, I don't want to leave here, this is my only home, even if someone puts a billion dollars worth of gold on my desk and asks me to leave North Korea, I will still refuse with righteous words!"
It's not just his attitude, it's the ideas he instills in his children.
His children are also staunch supporters of North Korea, and his eldest son hopes to become a teacher like his father in the future.
His second son hopes to join the army in the future, serve the motherland, unify the Korean Peninsula, and let more people feel the true "humanitarianism".
The children also understood his defection very well, and they believed that their father's choice was correct, and it was precisely because of the indifference of capitalism that his father was pushed into a desperate situation step by step.
"My father was regarded as a traitor over there, but my father didn't do anything to be sorry for them, on the contrary, they kept persecuting my father, bullying my father, even if my father was an honorable soldier, he didn't receive any respect, it's different here, here I will thank everyone for their efforts, even if it's a small one, they remember it. ”
They believe that the so-called humanitarianism in the United States is nothing more than a game in which the capitalists pity ordinary people, who still have no human rights and can be killed, oppressed, and exploited at any time.
summary
Leaving the place where he once broke his heart, Drennok came to a new land, which he fell in love with and adapted to.
In November 2016, Dresnock died in North Korea. As he himself said, until his death, he did not leave North Korea for half a step.
And the same goes for his descendants, who have always done their best to dedicate themselves to the country they love!