A Pyeongyang citizen with blue eyes

That's the title of a documentary film that I saw on TV tonight.

He is an American soldier who defected to North Korea around the early 1960s or the late 1950s--I just guess so since I didn't see the former part of the documentary which might contain the information.

He's old now, having two white sons who are university students and a little kid from his current Togolese-Korean wife. He got the white sons from an Eastern European former wife who died soon after the birth of the younger son, and then remarried many years later a woman who is a cross between a Togolese and a North Korean.

He seemed to speak very frankly and freely even though it was filmed in North Korea and he's still living there. But none of his words violated the rules that he is supposed to follow; he said he's happy just living there in North Korea, being taken care of by the dear leader and party. He said his former life in America was an unhappy one, but now, ever since his defection about 40 years ago he's been treated well and has led a much happier life.

I felt he was candid in his explanation about what he experienced there, and the majority of people who watched that documentary might have felt the same way. It would be better for him to live there for the rest of his life, which doesn't seem to be very long considering his current health conditions--his heart and liver are in terrible states and he's still smoking and drinking as before in spite of doctors' strong recommendation that he quit them.

He said he would never know how to appreciate the dear leader enough for the special care he's been receiving. Even during the "March of Suffering" in the 1990s he said his ration never changed while hundreds of thousands of North Koreans were dying of famine. He almost got to the point of weeping at that.

I know why he was treated that special. In North Korea, foreigners, especially Americans like him, are so rare like precious diamonds. That's quite simple logic. In light of that, he must have made a very clever decision in choosing to defect to North Korea where his worth could be maximized. For him, as he stated, North Korea definitely is the paradise on earth, a Shangri-la; otherwise he might have had a very good chance of ending up a white trash in America.

My conclusion? Everything is relative and personal. One's nightmare can be another guy's paradise. And the master of one's life is the person himself. Free will!