'I was relieved for the first time that I made it to the other side when I crossed that river, because there were words back in the North Korean army that it was South Korea just across that river,' Kim said. He remembered the width of the river to be about 70 meters where he crossed it. He crossed the river on foot where the water level was only up to his waist. 'After running and crawling in the mountainside for more than four hours, I was so exhausted that I even thought of killing myself with rat poison I had in pocket for emergency.'Īfter Kim crossed two fences, he finally arrived at the Bukhan riverside. 'I dug into the soil to make room just enough for myself to pass through,' Kim said, remembering the day of defection as the hardest moment in his life. He assumed that electricity won't be running on the fences above water. Unlike An, who knew how to avoid electricity running through the barbed-wire fence, Kim chose the ragged valley to avoid mines buried in fields and looked for cracks under the fence that were safe enough to get through. He took a photo with a South Korean army soldier during a field trip to the border security area in Cherwon, South Korea. An, a first sergeant, was in charge of the button that turned the electricity on and off.Īn Chan-il, 66, is a North Korea studies expert in Seoul who defected to South Korea through the demilitarized zone in 1979. At major points, the wire fence exposes electricity strong enough to bounce off an adult.

In order to prevent intrusion into the DMZ, layers of barbed-wire fence stand on the North Korean side, warning soldiers not to come too close. He believed that heavy fog could help him hide. The rainy season had just begun so the weather was foggy and nippy. He said that he kept the dead soldier's badge during his own escape to at least give the man's soul a chance to have a look at South Korea.Īn escaped the communist regime on July 27, 1979. 'I witnessed a soldier, not so different from myself, being executed by firing squad when he was caught trying to flee,' An Chan-il, a 66-year-old defector and North Korea expert, told ABC News. All soldiers on each side carry loaded guns. Soldiers working at guard posts along the border are not only given the role of surveilling the opposition, but also keeping an eye on their own colleagues, who may attempt to escape. (MORE: Cracks, confusion in US approach to North Korea as Trump openly defies advisers)

Barbed wire fence 7 days to die