 |
| North Korean waitresses (Photo: The New York Times) |
By Nathan Schwartzman
Asian Correspondent
Original article in Korean is at this link.
A man who defected from North Korea and now has South Korean citizenship has been arrested on charges stemming from the kidnapping of a female worker from a North Korean restaurant in Cambodia last year. However, the woman is shown in a video to have been not kidnapped but rather asking the South Korean man who has been arrested to take her to the border. The video is expected to free the man, who is currently detained by Cambodian authorities. Below is a TV Chosun report.
[Anchor]
Last year a female worker in a North Korean restaurant in Cambodia disappeared. A Korean man has been arrested by Cambodian police on charges of kidnapping the woman, and is currently detained. Appearing to have vanished, the woman was mistakenly thought to have been kidnapped.
[Report]
The Korean man, Mr. Kim visited Cambodia last month and was arrested by police at the airport.
One year ago, the woman, Ms. Mun, disappeared while working in the North Korean restaurant in Cambodia, apparently because of Mr. Kim. A North Korean official residence released the security camera evidence from the restaurant which led to Mr. Kim being accused of kidnapping and murder.
However, Ms. Mun has reappeared after one year — on video.
[Video] Ms. Mun
“Right now I am crossing the border into a third country where I will live in safety… I am thinking of the Korean who has been arrested and feel responsible for it, and so now I am releasing this internet video to explain everything so that this incident may be correctly understood although not every mystery can be explained.”
Ms. Mun says in the video that she feels sorry for Mr. Kim, who was her regular customer, and that she has not gone to South Korea.
[Video] Ms. Mun
“I asked him to take to a nearby shop, just asked it naturally, and once in the car I said I couldn’t return to the restaurant and thoughtlessly went near the border and sincerely asked him to help me…”
Mr. Kim is currently detained in Cambodia on kidnapping charges, and is waiting for his trial to begin at the end of this month.
Mr. Kim is a North Korean defector and is known to have received threats from North Korea since leaving. Our government is expected to speak with Mr. Kim to reach a solution once Ms. Mun’s video has been received by the court.
No comments:
Post a Comment