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Article: Forgotten heroes. (treatment of North Korean defectors in South Korea)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- February 14, 1998
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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SEOUL
WHEN Hwang Jang Yop defected from North Korea in February last year, the South was agog with excitement. Mr Hwang had been closer to the centre of power than any previous defector, indeed he was the architect of North Korea's national ideology of juche, self-reliance. When he said his mission was to pave the way for the reunification of Korea and the liberation of 23m starving northerners, South Koreans applauded. But a year later the memory of Mr Hwang has faded. He is one of some 700 defectors who were briefly in the limelight and are now forgotten.
The public indifference now shown to these former heroes is not entirely the fault of South Koreans, ...