U.S. Soldier Who Defected to North Korea in 1962 Has Died, His Sons Say
James Dresnok said that My father finished his life with no regrets,
Mr. Dresnok strongly denied that in "Crossing the Line." Ted Dresnok said in the interview
that he had a son and a daughter, and James Dresnok Jr. said he had a daughter.
22, 2017
SEOUL, South Korea — One of a handful of American soldiers who defected to North Korea during the Cold War died last
year after living there for more than half a century, two of his sons said in a video on a pro-North Korea website.
He told the makers of "Crossing the Line" that he would not leave the North "if you put a billion damn dollars of gold on the table." "To his last day, our father had lived a life blessed by the love
and benefits from the party," Ted Dresnok said in the interview uploaded to Minjok Tongshin, Mr. Roh’s website.
The soldier, James Joseph Dresnok, died in November at 74, according to his sons, Ted Dresnok and James Dresnok Jr.
Mr. Dresnok was an American soldier based in South Korea, facing marital troubles
and a potential court-martial for forging a pass, when he defected to North Korea in 1962, crossing the heavily armed Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas.