South Korea President to North Koreans: Come to ‘Bosom of Freedom’

South Korea’s President Park Geun-Hye made an extraordinary call to the people of North Korea. She directly exhorted their northern neighbors to defect.

Her speech included the mention of the “gruesome realities” the North Koreans endured every day.

The president said, “We will keep the road open for you to find hope and live a new life. Please come to the bosom of freedom in the South.”

Her remarks follow the recent defection of a North Korean soldier who traversed the heavily secured Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to get to the South.

In the speech performed t commemorate the South’s armed forces day, she further added:”The universal values of freedom, democracy, human rights and welfare are the precious rights you should also enjoy.”

Ms. Park also used the occasion to deliver a warning to Pyongyang concerning its nuclear and missile tests. She swore that South Korea would fight to defend itself.

It remains unclear whether the target audience would receive her invitation due to the tight control of the northern state over its media.

Heavily fortified strip of land

The DMZ has been in place since the cessation of the Korean war in 1953. It bisects the peninsula from east to west and its depth stretches 4km (2.5 miles). Barbed wire, landmines, gun positions, assorted cameras & sensors manned by thousands of troops from both sides, cover the zone.

This level of security at the DMZ makes for extremely rare defections across it. The incident such as Thursday’s was the first in more than a year.

The last one involved a teen-aged military trainee who approached South Korean sentries at the border.

The last one before that caused a major security revamp in 2012. A North Korean soldier bypassed all the electronic security measures without detection before presenting himself to his Southern counterparts.

Most of the almost 30,000 defectors since the 1950’s went through China. The South Korean government assists them in terms of integration. However, a number of them complain about discrimination and financial issues.

The persistent nuclear tests by the north despite international sanctions keep tensions high between the two Koreas.

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