You might have seen the video of a 24-year-old North Korea defector, a young soldier known as “Oh”, fleeing across the border and pulled to safety by South Korean troops.
He tried to escape through the border in a military vehicle but the vehicle crashed so he dashed for the border under fire.
One of his fellow North Korean soldier accidentally crossed into South Korea while chasing after him but quickly made a U-turn to return to the North Korea zone.
According to lead surgeon John Cook-Jong Lee who has been caring for the wounded soldier, Oh was flown to hospital by an American military helicopter.
The helicopter is used to treat VIP visitors such as visiting US presidents. On the flight, the American army flight medics fought to keep him alive.
They even had to poke a large needle into his chest to treat a collapsed lung.
Oh had to undergo two major surgeries to remove bullets and the medical team had to pump two bodies’ worth of blood transfusions to save him.
They also had to stitch up his shredded organs and treat pre-existing conditions such as tuberculosis, hepatitis B and massive intestinal worms. One of the worms was 27cm long.
He was shot in his buttocks, armpit, back, shoulder and knee.
While he is able to consume light food and is generally responsive, he is still anxious about the South Korean guards and has nightmares about being sent back to North Korea.
Surgeon Lee has been exposing Oh to South Korean pop music and American films, TV shows.
Oh also told Lee that he is so grateful for South Koreans for saving his life.
According to Yonhap news agency, North Korea seemed to have replace all its security guards at the border since Oh’s defection.
Here’s the video of Oh escaping North Korea:
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