1st North Korean Defector to US Kills Himself

By Lee Tae-hoon

Staff Reporter

A North Korean refugee, one of the first six defectors the United States admitted in 2006, recently took his own life, the Voice of America reported.

His wife told the U.S. government-funded radio network that he was found hanging at their residence in New York, Monday.

Joseph Shin reportedly suffered from mood swings and depression, but police said they have yet to determine the exact cause of death.

Shin went to China in 1997 during the famine in hopes of seeking food for his family, sources said. He was sent back to the North three times in six years, each time crossing the Tumen River back into China.

Shin spent one and a half years in labor camps, prison and torture facilities before touching down on American soil as a refugee in May 2006.

According to the U.S. Department of State, 94 North Koreans have been admitted to America, since it began to take asylum seekers from the communist country four years ago.

The U.N. Refugee Agency estimates more than 2,500 North Koreans have been granted refugee status in 23 countries, excluding South Korea. Germany has admitted some 1,400 North Korean defectors, followed by the United Kingdom with 1,000. Most of the remaining countries have admitted less than 100 refugees each.

Many asylum seekers are caught after crossing the border into China as Beijing refuses to grant them refugee status and considers them illegal migrants. Those arrested are repatriated back to the North and face harsh punishment or hard labor.

South Korea, which offers a range of financial incentives for resettlement, is the most popular destination. According to the Unification Ministry, the number of North Korean refugees in the South soared to 15,057 in 2008, up by 2,544 from the previous year.