I spent 27 months in Korea Oct 1968 until Dec 1970. NKs killing defectors is all too common. I was on and off the DMZ and it is truly a very scary place. There were nights that I wished I was in Vietnam. Those NK people (the ruling class) were just as insane when I was there as they are now. The Whacko in chief when I was there was Kim Il Sung. It seems to be getting worse from dictator to dictator (note that I did not refer to any of these crazy people as "Leader".)