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Two sons of American defector James Dresnok

James Dresnok, the last US defector believed to be living in North Korea, died last year, according to a CNN report on Aug. 22 that quoted Uriminzokkiri, the website of North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland.

In a video titled, “A special interview with American officers in the Korean People’s Army” that was posted to Uriminzokkiri on Aug. 19, Dresnok’s two sons said that their father had died of a stroke last year at the age of 74. The sons, Ted Dresnok and James Dresnok, Jr., reside in North Korea.

“My father received the love and care of the Party until the moment he passed away in the bosom of the Republic,” said Ted, Dresnok’s oldest son, during an interview hosted by Roh Kil-nam (Ken Roh), a Korean-American who runs a pro-North Korean website called Minjok Tongshin. “If there was anything that my father wanted of us, it was for us to be loyal and devoted to the dear leader Kim Jong-un and to raise up our children to follow in our footsteps,” Ted said.

“It’s just too bad that our father wasn’t able to live longer so that he could enjoy more of the government and party’s care,” James said. The two sons, who were wearing military uniforms, spoke in fluent Korean with a North Korean accent and said they were serving in the North Korean armed forces. Ted said he had the rank of “senior lieutenant,” which falls between the ranks of first lieutenant and captain.

James Dresnok

Dresnok crossed the armistice line in 1962 while serving as an American soldier stationed in South Korea. In a 2006 documentary directed by British filmmakers, he explained the circumstances of his desertion. While stationed near the DMZ, he was going through a divorce with his wife, and he was also in danger of being court-martialed after he was caught forging the signature of his superior, a sergeant, in order to meet a woman. "I was fed up with my childhood, my marriage, my military life, everything," Dresnok said. "There's only one place to go."

Dresnok also became famous by playing the role of American soldiers in North Korean propaganda films. During a movie called “Confrontation” about the capture of the USS Pueblo, an event that occurred in 1968, Dresnok served as the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, a four-star general – despite having only been a private first class at the time of his desertion. Other responsibilities included teaching university English classes and translating the writings of North Korean leaders into English. The North Korean military made recordings of him saying that he had a happy life in North Korea, which they used in propaganda against US troops on the DMZ.

According to Charles Jenkins, another US soldier who defected, Dresnok remarried a woman from Romania in Pyongyang. Dresnok and his Romanian wife had the two sons who appeared in the video. After her death, Dresnok married a North Korean woman, who gave birth to a third son. Jenkins, who described Dresnok’s life in North Korea, was also stationed with American troops in South Korea when he defected in 1965 out of fear that he might be sent to the Vietnam War. He was allowed to leave North Korea in 2004 and settled in Japan, where he lives with his wife.

If it’s true that Dresnok died last year, it raises questions about why North Korea waited so long to give word about his death and why they then released a video about it – which was even posted to YouTube. One possible interpretation is that this is part of North Korean propaganda activity aimed at Westerners in a time of intense conflict with the US.

By Lee Bon-young, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]