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Dr. Lee Guk-jong

The doctor who is treating the North Korean soldier who defected to the South in the Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjeom said that he had learned through extensive conversation with the now-conscious soldier that he had defected of his own free will. The doctor is Lee Guk-jong, a professor at the trauma center at Ajou University Medical Center in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.

“Currently, the patient is in a lucid state,” Lee said in a press release that he distributed prior to the second press briefing at 11 am on Nov. 22. “The patient is exhibiting depressive tendencies because of the severe psychological stress resulting from gunshot wounds and two major surgeries, so we’re planning for psychologists to assess the patient for post-traumatic stress disorder.”

“The North Korean soldier is 24 years old, and his family name is Oh. The patient will not die,” Lee said, revealing part of the soldier’s identity and confirming that the worst danger is past.

“The patient didn’t ask for us to play South Korean music, as some press reports have suggested, and the medical team played music to provide emotional stability. The fact that security [of the patient’s status] was not maintained is disturbing for me, too,” Lee added.

“We’re planning to keep treating the patient in the intensive care unit for a few more days, at least until we can confirm that there will not be any complications, such as an infection,” Lee said. The medical team is currently treating the soldier for parasitic worms that were discovered during the operation, and they are also planning to treat him for tuberculosis and hepatitis B, which turned up in additional tests.

The soldier underwent a second surgery on Nov. 15 and began breathing naturally at 9 am on Nov. 18, three days later. The patient is currently in a stable condition without a fever, and it should be possible to move him to a regular hospital room this weekend, a hospital spokesperson said.

“We have given a lot of thought about where to draw the line between protecting the patient’s privacy and guaranteeing the public and the media’s right to know. Medical records aren’t supposed to be made public,” Lee emphasized. The soldier was hit by five rounds fired by North Korean troops while defecting at 3:30 pm on Nov. 13, leaving him wounded in an elbow, a shoulder, and his abdomen. He was subsequently transported to Ajou University Medical Center in Suwon for treatment.

By Kim Gi-seong, south Gyeonggi correspondent

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