The Korea Herald

피터빈트

NK re-defector makes 3rd appearance in propaganda video

By Yonhap

Published : Aug. 28, 2017 - 15:44

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A North Korean woman, who fled back to the North after living in South Korea, on Monday condemned Seoul's TV programs featuring former North Koreans for fabricating false North Korean images.

The woman, known as Lim Ji-hyun in South Korea, showed up in a 30-minute video uploaded by North Korea's propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri, her third such appearance since defecting back to Pyongyang in June this year.

Lim, who defected to the South in 2014, became somewhat popular here after appearing in cable TV show programs featuring North Korean defectors.

"Scripts for such programs were concocted by North Korean defectors' groups and anti-North broadcasters based on human scums' lies," she said.

This image captured from footage by North Korea`s propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri on Aug. 28, 2017, shows Lim Ji-hyun, a North Korea woman who defected to South Korea in 2014 and returned home in June. In a video, she condemned South Korean TV programs featuring North Korean refugees. (Yonhap) This image captured from footage by North Korea`s propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri on Aug. 28, 2017, shows Lim Ji-hyun, a North Korea woman who defected to South Korea in 2014 and returned home in June. In a video, she condemned South Korean TV programs featuring North Korean refugees. (Yonhap)

In mid-July, Lim appeared in a propaganda video under the name of Jeon Hye-sung, saying she returned to North Korea in June after suffering "physically and mentally" in the capitalist South.

She insisted that she was lured to South Korea by the fallacy that she could make a lot of money.

South Korean police are investigating how Lim returned to the North and whether it was a voluntary re-entry or an abduction.

She said in another video in August that she swam across the Yalu River bordering China and North Korea to come back home, adding that the rumor about her being abducted by North Korea is a "downright lie and fabrication."

The U.S.-based Radio Free Asia reported that North Korea's spy agency is probing family members whose children appeared on South Korean TV programs with Lim after defecting.

"A police investigation is still under way," Baik Tae-hyun, ministry spokesman, told a press briefing. "The government is making various efforts to resolve the issue of detainees with cooperation from international organizations." (Yonhap)