# What would happen if I defected to North Korea? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 9, 2004, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-defected-to-north-korea/254253 "2004-07-09T06:30:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-defected-to-north-korea/254253/1 "2004-07-09T06:30:45Z")
Let’s say I, a young American citizen, took a tour of North Korea and decided that it looked like the kind of place I’d like to live in. Would they let me in? Would they arrest me as a spy? Would I live well or would I be sent off to some labor camp? Would they parade me around on TV as an example of how great their state was, or would they try to keep it all secret? FWIW, I’m not _actually_ interersted in defecting to North Korea or anywhere else. Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-defected-to-north-korea/254253/2 "2004-07-09T07:16:01Z")
North Korea highly regulates the itinerary of tourists, especially westerners (see [this fascinating and terrifying account from an American](http://1stopkorea.com/index.htm?nk-trip5.htm~mainframe).) If you decided to stay, I’m sure they would propagandize you quite a bit. But you can’t really “defect” unless you’re in the military, or a spy, or something like that. As a private citizen, you’d just be moving there. ---
**Author:** ![slu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@slu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slu)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-defected-to-north-korea/254253/3 "2004-07-09T14:19:43Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > But you can’t really “defect” unless you’re in the military, or a spy, or something like that. As a private citizen, you’d just be moving there. Then is it just a misuse of the term when people “defect” from Cuba and other such places to the U.S.A? For example, Jose Conteras (baseball player for the Yankees) “defected” from Cuba two years ago and his family just “defected” a couple weeks ago. And they are just regular people… ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-defected-to-north-korea/254253/4 "2004-07-09T14:39:09Z")
It makes to talk about ordinary people defecting from a country if the country forbids their emigrating. Some countries forbid everyone leaving without permission; some might forbid you leaving if you are liable to compulsory miltary service. In those cases, a person who leaves without permission is defecting. However, at the moment, without a draft in the US, the only US citizens who could be said to be defecting would be US government employees or military evading their responsibilities as employees or military. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-defected-to-north-korea/254253/5 "2004-07-09T17:46:01Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > North Korea highly regulates the itinerary of tourists, especially westerners (see [this fascinating and terrifying account from an American](http://1stopkorea.com/index.htm?nk-trip5.htm~mainframe).) If you decided to stay, I’m sure they would propagandize you quite a bit. Thank you for posting that link. That is fascinating! ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-defected-to-north-korea/254253/6 "2004-07-09T18:46:27Z")
:rolleyes: You would be eating kim chi? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-defected-to-north-korea/254253/7 "2004-07-09T18:52:35Z")
Funny you should ask: [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040709.wjenk0709/BNStory/International/](http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040709.wjenk0709/BNStory/International/) I read a magazine article about this guy a few years ago. As far as I can recall, he did pretty well, by North Korean standards (shudder), and got to appear in the odd movie, portraying evil Americans. ---
**Author:** ![slu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@slu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slu)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-defected-to-north-korea/254253/8 "2004-07-09T19:03:38Z")
> [@liirogue](#): > > Thank you for posting that link. That is fascinating! Agreed. That was one of the best things I have read online in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-defected-to-north-korea/254253/9 "2004-07-10T06:52:33Z")
Those pictures don’t look real. I had to keep telling myself that it wasn’t something created on a computer. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-i-defected-to-north-korea/254253/10 "2004-07-10T16:45:26Z")
There would undoubtedly be some dramatic differences: - political debate and criticism would be stifled - there would be far less choice in food, entertainment and travel - you might encounter suspicion as a foreigner (not many tourists to broaden minds!) - censorship would affect your input of news and entertainment media