James Dresnok was a US soldier with a tough upbringing who was positioned on the North Korea border of the DMZ, following the Korean War in the early Fifties – a conflict that risked the outbreak of World War 3. As a child, Dresnok’s parents divorced, leaving him in a foster home and, having missed out on most of school life, he decided to join the US Army the day after his 17th birthday. Dresnok’s first military service was two years spent in West Germany, but after returning to the US he discovered his wife had left him for another man.

His second tour came in South Korea along the DMZ, but Dresnok soon found himself in hot water and felt like he had nothing else to live for.

YouTube channel “Biographics” explained why he made the decision to defect.

Presenter Simon Whistler said in 2019: “One night Dresnok wanted to go and see his girlfriend, but his commanding officer would not allow him to leave.

“He was so fed up of taking orders that he forged his sergeant’s signature on a pass and snuck out to the village. 

I don’t consider myself a traito

James Dresnok

“The next morning, August 15, 1962, his commanding officer – Thomas Bryan –  tried to reprimand him and take him to court-martial.

“Dresnok felt like he had absolutely nothing left and in the distance, North Korea had built a city known as the Peace Village, which urged South Koreans to defect.

“From Dresnok’s perspective it looked far more advanced compared to South Korea, so he snuck out during lunch break.”

The documentary detailed the moment he took the long walk from the South to the North.

Mr Whistler added: “He began walking towards North Korea, knowing there were land mines everywhere, but he did not care about his own life.

“Once the Americans noticed he was leaving, they started to shout after him, but he turned around and shot into the air, they thought he had gone AWOL.

“The North Korean soldiers were ordered to take battle stations and surround him, many of them wanted to kill him on the spot, this was the American monster they had been warned about.

“They blindfolded him, took him to a base and he was interrogated, to which he calmly complied, answering all their questions without resistance, but he didn’t know anything they didn’t already know.”

However, Dresnok soon found out he was not the first of his kind.

Mr Whistler continued: “It turns out he was not the first American soldier who had chosen to defect to North Korea.

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Wayne Parrish defected a few months later and so North Korea started sending flyers over the border offering financial incentives for Americans that brought them weapons.

“Sergeant Charles Rober Jenkins defected in 1965 with an M-14 rifle and the [North Korean] government tried to use these men to show South Korea must be an awful place to live.

“Living in North Korea was not all sunshine though, it was very uncomfortable for these men, they could not walk down the street without people staring and were not allowed to marry North Koreans.”

In 1966, all four men made another bold decision.

Mr Whistler explained:  “Abshier, Parrish and Jenkins all agreed with Dresnok that it was time to plan their escape so, in 1966, all four of the men visited the Soviet embassy in Pyongyang, asking for asylum.

“Larry Allen Abshier had a similar backstory to Dresnok, Jerry 

“They notified the Korean government and the men were taken back into custody, but the Koreans did not punish them for trying to leave.

“In fact, they felt guilty that they had made the four men feel so unwelcome and decided to teach them to speak Korean and learn the ways of their culture.

“Compared to how he was treated by the US Army, Dresnok felt very grateful for their mercy and understanding.

“The men were told it was in the best interest of everyone if they lived differently from the average North Korean, they had a personal servant that would go to the supermarket and retrieve anything they might need and chauffeurs to take them around.”

Life soon changed for Dresnok and the others, and soon they started to feel like North Korea was home.

Mr Whistler detailed: “The four men lived every day like it was an extended vacation, swimming, smoking cigarettes, drinking, gambling and reminisce over their life in America.

“To Dresnok, this was everything he ever wanted, this was his definition of freedom, he felt although he was being treated like a king.

“By 1972, the four men were fluent enough in speaking Korean to have full North Korean citizenship, they could leave the compounds and have their own apartments.

“In 1978, all four of the men starred in a 20-part drama called Unsung Heroes, Dresnok playing the lead character Arthur.

“Kim Jung-Il explained to his people that in order to portray a villain effectively, an actor needs to have a lot of patriotism for their country and so they stopped thinking of the defectors as the enemy, but instead national heroes.”

In an interview with the Guardian in 2008, Dresnok explained how he viewed his decision to turn his back on the US.

He told The Guardian: “I don’t consider myself a traitor.

“I love my country, I love my town.

“I call North Korea my country because I have been here for 46 years. 

“My life is here and the government will take care of me until my dying breath.”

In 2017, it was revealed by Dresnok’s family that he had died the year earlier from a stroke.

They released a statement saying that their father told them to remain loyal to Kim Jong-un and they also stated that they would “destroy” the US if it launched a preemptive strike against North Korea.

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