More than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea since a famine hit their homeland in the 1990s. South Korean officials suspect these “repeat defectors,” as those who return to the North are known, may have been lured to China and kidnapped back to the North. Like all defectors, he became a South Korean citizen upon arriving here, and it is illegal for any South Korean to visit the North without government permission. Mr. Kwon ended up with a human trafficker who promised to get him to South Korea, for about $2,500. He applied for a South Korean passport and a tourist visa to China so he could enter North Korea from there.

Source: New York Times August 05, 2017 09:22 UTC