By Robert Neff from the Marmot’s Hole has posted an interesting article in the Asia Times about the 1982 defection of PFC Joseph White to North Korea. PFC White would remain in North Korea for only three more years until he supposedly died while drowning in a river. The reason for PFC White’s defection has been a matter of controversy for years.
Here is the theory from the article that I would put money on:
There is another theory. One American soldier claims that White fell in love with a North Korean agent in a club in the village of Bongilchon and that she disappeared on the same day White did. Allegedly she either guided him to the North Korean positions or she met him in the North.
PFC White was an introvert and when he enlisted in the military and was posted in Korea; he became a big fan of the ville culture. PFC White probably never had such attention showered on from women before and enjoyed the attention from the Korean women in the ville so much that he even wrote letters home to his mom about it. I don’t think it is too far fetched of an idea that a woman is the reason he defected.
I have seen soldiers do many stupid and criminal things due to juicy girls in the ville, so the possibility that PFC White defected due to juicy girl is definitely plausible to me. Anyway interesting read and I encourage everyone to check it out.
6:01 am on February 23rd, 2007 1
I already posted this at Marmot’s hole:
“I was in the ROK in 1982 and in the Army. As I recall it was classic case of the a soldier told he couldn’t see his ‘yobo’ (not used in the Korean sense, with the GIs it was a kept woman).
He was shacked up with a girl from one of the clubs. Had trouble with his 1st SGT and had his pass pulled.
I have seen many a fellow do really stupid things when facing separation from their girl friend.
The dating a north korean agent sounds like urban myth stuff.”
I’m sure you, GI Korea, have seen lots of this too. A common, while sad, tale of a young soldier who messes his life up because of the ville.
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12:32 am on February 24th, 2007 2
Hear pretty much the same story about White, I had also heard a rumor that his body had been found floating down the Imjin with his throat slit, perhaps this is untrue..
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December 17th, 2009 at 4:40 am
Found by whom…the North Koreans? Why in the world would they say that someone slit his throat and tossed him in the river? How would that benefit North Korea?
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7:12 am on February 24th, 2007 3
Rich,
Some people that I know that served in Korea in the early 80’s told me the same thing but I have never read anything that proves that. I think it is just an urban legend that was passed around to discourage soldiers from defecting.
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December 17th, 2009 at 3:21 am
GI Korea
“passed around to discourage soldiers from defecting”
I was there the night it happened,to your quote,maybe urban ledgend,maybe not,young and dumb as he might have been,and there were many,you’d have to have your head up your ass before you got to the turtle farm to believe the propaganda,Me thinks it was the furry end of a tube that got him to chogie,I also heard he fell out and Top was on his ass to,but that furry end of a tube got him to cut a chogie more than Top
J. Moore’s right,he did shoot the lock,he did yell out in Korean so they wouldn’t wax his ass.
And yes,the Wild bunch was A-1/31st
Regiment was the Polar Bears
Just as is Cobra is C-1/9th
KEEP UP THE FIRE!
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3:09 pm on February 24th, 2007 4
I remembered when White defected to North, his mother was in denial. Her exact words were “My son is Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich all American boy.”
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6:44 pm on February 24th, 2007 5
He may have been but I have seen plenty of American boys lives go down the drain quickly because of drinky girls, so I’m sure the yobos back 82 altered peoples behavior just as much then as the juicy girls do now.
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12:10 pm on March 18th, 2007 6
I was at Casey when that shithead went North and I heard the same old thing. It was a YOBO and top was on his ass.
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6:50 am on April 10th, 2008 7
I was Division CQ the evening PFC White was captured. I was ordered to hand deliver the news of his capture to three Battalion HQs, my own, the 122nd Signal Bn at Camp casey Korea. The message that went out to our division commanders that morning was “US soldier captured by North Korean infiltrators on DML” It is my understanding that IR photography confirms White being lead away from Oulette at gunpoint, and the lock was shot off his gaurdpost from outside, not inside as otherwise claimed.
PFC is a POW and should be treated as such. The fact he had a pass pulled (who didn’t) and he didn’t get along famously with his sergeabt (who did) and that he had scores of propganda leaflets (who didn’t) in his footlocker – are all red herrings by a government who is perfectly happy leaving a man behind. They didn’t want to start a war, period. Now I say we bring White home. If he died, it was while in North korean custody…but his death, like his capture has most likely been greatly exagerated.
SOUND OFF 2nd D !! Leave No man behind !!
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7:47 am on April 10th, 2008 8
According to Robert Neff’s article the lock was shot from the inside which I’m sure ballistic analysis would be able to confirm if it was an M16 or not that shot it. Also sensitive items were left in the outpost that I would presume a North Korean raiding team would have taken instead of leaving behind. Finally there was witnesses that saw him walk across the DMZ by himself before being grabbed by North Koreans on the North’s side of the MDL.
According to the information available the kid defected and it appears even his family accepts this now.
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7:30 am on August 8th, 2008 9
Pfc White defected plain and simple. I was stationed their in 82. From the land of the morning calm. To fishheads and rice 24/7. Have a nice life.
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10:42 am on August 8th, 2008 10
“a North Korean agent in a club in the village of Bongilchon…”
We are talking book rights here…
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10:47 pm on May 27th, 2009 11
I was stationed at Camp Howze (Bongilchon) from Feb ‘83- Feb ‘84, by that time PFC White’s “defection” was talked about very little. In fact, the “tree trimming incident” of years prior was talked about 100 times more often than White. For about 8 months of my year there, I was the bases’ C.C.I., working out of the base dispensery and had a close working relationship with all of the “working” girls, mamasans’, and bar owners in the ‘ville. At that time there was anywhere from 110 to 150 working girls in Bongilchon on any given week (including “yobo’s”), and I did my best to keep track of them. As for the theory that white’s yobo was a North Korean spy, I have to laugh. What a waste of time for an intel agency to have a spy posing as a working girl in a town where officers were prohibited from “partaking” in the women there. A very small number of NCO’s on that base had access to sensitive intel, and even fewer numbers of privates. I can say that a lot of the girls did pump me rigorously, but not for information
.
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9:11 pm on August 17th, 2009 12
Yes Joe defected. No more, no less. He shot the lock off the gate and left. The story posted is pretty good but leaves out a lot of the details of that night.
I don’t know if Joe had a Yobo or not. One of the reasons Top was on his ass was about PT. The boy could not run at all. Always falling out of runs and if I remember right he failed a PT test. He was quiet, kinda strange but otherwise seemed allright. Rumour had that they found him floating in the Imjin river in ‘85 when I was back there a second time.
That will be one night that I will never forget. CQ82 you are so wrong. I was there, I talked to the guys in my unit that morning on the guard post. I heard the Company Commander tell the rest of the officers and others what happened. I drew his and the XO’s sidearms from the armoury that night. Joe left on his own of his own will.
BTW, the Wild Bunch was Alpha Co. Not the whole battalion.
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