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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2017
Drama caught on video as N. Korean soldier escapes
By FOSTER KLUG
Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea —
It’s 3:11 p.m. on a cold, gray
day on the North Korean side
of the most heavily armed
border in the world, and a
lone soldier is racing toward
freedom.
His dark olive-green jeep
speeds down a straight, tree-
lined road, past drab, barren
fields and, headlights shin-
ing, across the replacement
for the Bridge of No Return,
which was used for prisoner
exchanges during the Korean
War. The shock of soldiers
watching the jeep rush by
is palpable from the video
released Wednesday, and no
wonder: They’re beginning to
realize that one of their com-
rades is defecting to the South.
They sprint after him.
The jeep slows and turns at
a monument to North Korean
founder Kim Il Sung, the stag-
ing point for North Korean
tours of the area.
The border is near, South
Korea just beyond it.
Four North Korean sol-
diers, weapons in their hands,
race by the blue huts that strad-
dle the line and are familiar to
anyone who has toured the
only spot on the border where
North and South Korean sol-
diers face off within spitting
distance of each other. There
are no tourists this day.
Right at the line that
divides North from South, the
defector crashes the jeep into
a ditch. Seconds pass as he
tries in vain to gun the vehi-
cle out of the gully before
leaping out and sprinting into
the South. He kicks up leaves,
ducking below a tree branch
just as the North Korean sol-
diers skid into view.
Muzzles flash. The North
Korean soldiers, one of whom
drops flat into the leaves, fire
at the defector at close range
with handguns and AK-47
assault rifles — about 40
rounds, the South says.
Suddenly, two of the North
Koreans run away while the
soldier in the leaves jumps up
and dashes across the divid-
ing line into South Korean ter-
ritory before stopping, turn-
ing on his heels and sprinting
back to the northern side after
his comrades. The defector
falls stretched out and unmov-
ing in a pile of leaves against
a small wall on the South
Korean side.
The entire sequence, from
the first appearance of the jeep
to the soldier’s frenzied cross-
ing, lasts four minutes.
United Nations Command via AP
This combination of images from surveillance video
shows a North Korean soldier running from a jeep and
then shot by North Korean soldiers in Panmunjom before
collapsing across the border in South Korea.
It unfolded Nov. 13 in the
Joint Security Area, which is
overseen by both the Ameri-
can-led U.N. Command and
North Korea and lies inside
the 2 1/2-mile-wide Demili-
tarized Zone that has been the
de facto border between the
Koreas since the war.
Forty minutes later, the
video has switched to infrared
to show the heat signatures of
two South Korean soldiers as
they crawl on their hands and
knees, using a wall as cover,
toward the prone defector.
They grab hold of the defec-
tor and drag him to safety.
Not far away, heavily armed
North Korean troops begin to
gather near the Kim Il Sung
monument.
For the moment, the border
is quiet again.
Surprisingly, North and
South Korean soldiers didn’t
exchange fire during the
shooting, the first in the area
in more than three decades.
The bullets went in only one
direction.
The defection, subsequent
surgeries and slow recovery
of the soldier have riveted
South Korea. But his escape is
a huge embarrassment for the
North, which claims all defec-
tions are the result of rival
Seoul kidnapping or enticing
North Koreans. Pyongyang
has said nothing about the
defection so far.
North Korea’s actions
during the defector’s escape at
the Panmunjom border village
violated the armistice agree-
ment ending the Korean War
because North Korean sol-
diers fired across and phys-
ically crossed the border in
pursuit of the soldier, U.S.
Col. Chad Carroll, a spokes-
man for the U.N. command,
told reporters in a live TV
briefing Wednesday. A U.N.
Command statement said a
meeting had been requested
with the North’s military to
discuss the violations.
After undergoing two sur-
geries last week to repair
internal organ damage and
other injuries, the soldier has
regained consciousness and is
no longer relying on a breath-
ing machine. His doctor said
Wednesday he is enjoying
watching American movies
and shows such as “Trans-
formers,” ‘’CSI,” and “Bruce
Almighty,” and listening to
South Korean pop songs such
as “Gee” by popular female
band “Girls’ Generation.”
“His condition has become
much better since yesterday.
We’ve turned on the TV for
him since yesterday,” doctor
Lee Cook-jong told reporters.
“He said it was so painful
when he was shot by bullets
but that he doesn’t feel pain
now,” he said.
Doctors plan to keep him
at an intensive care unit for
at least several more days to
guard against possible infec-
tion, hospital official Shin
Mi-jeong said.
While treating the wounds,
surgeons earlier removed doz-
ens of parasites from the sol-
dier’s ruptured small intestine,
including presumed round-
worms that were as long as
10.6 inches, which may reflect
poor nutrition and health in
North Korea’s military. The
soldier is 5 feet, 7 inches tall
but weighs just 132 pounds.
About 30,000 North Kore-
ans have fled to South Korea,
mostly across the porous bor-
der with China, since the end
of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Now add one more to that tally
— a man in uniform, fleeing
gunfire toward a new life one
overcast afternoon across the
world’s most uneasy border.
Associated Press writers
Hyung-jin Kim and Kim Tong-
hyung contributed to this
report.
Deli: ‘I saw this
as an incredible
opportunity’
Continued from Page 1A
“We wanted to do some-
thing that Cannon Beach
doesn’t already have,” Ray-
mond said. “This town is
great at clam chowder, fish
and chips, and things like
that. With the brewery as a
partner, the inclusion of a
craft charcuterie is a perfect
match.”
The beginning
Technically, the owners
began the process to open the
charcuterie about two years
ago. But in a certain sense,
the beginning of this story is
when Raymond first started
working at Bill’s Tavern and
Brewhouse as a bartender
more than 12 years ago.
For as long as he can
remember, Raymond has
been a self-proclaimed
foodie. Trying different
restaurants is his favorite part
of any vacation. His love for
food was taken to the next
level when he purchased
a small-scale smoker. He
began experimenting with
smoking the salmon and cod
he would catch on his fish-
ing trips and would share the
final product with his friends.
Raymond shared his pas-
sion with Bond, a longtime
friend, who before ventur-
ing into the world of cured
meats ran Voyages Toy Co.
in Sandpiper Square. He
was looking for a way to get
back into the retail world of
Cannon Beach, and couldn’t
think of a better way to do so
than with such a close friend.
“I was impressed with
his product and his passion.
I saw this as an incredible
opportunity to own a busi-
ness with a friend,” Bond
said. “They tell you never to
do that, but so far, so good.”
Striking a deal
Around the same time, the
property behind Bill’s Tavern
and Brewhouse opened up.
After 12 years of working
as his bartender, Raymond
struck a deal with Jim Oyala,
who owns the tavern and the
building, to open the smoke-
house there.
“At Bill’s, we’re fam-
ily. We work together, and
the bond we have is real,
and emotional,” Oyala said.
“Raymond is one of the best
employees I have ever had,
and I didn’t want to lose him.
So we collaborated with this
smokehouse.”
Both Raymond and Bond
have cherished memories of
summers spent in Cannon
Beach as children, and hav-
ing the opportunity to own
and operate a business they
love as much as the com-
munity in which they live
is something for which they
both feel grateful.
“I feel incredibly blessed.
I’m definitely not taking this
for granted,” Raymond said.
As the business expands,
Raymond and Bond hope to
continue to create more part-
nerships with local restau-
rants. But the relationship
between Raymond and Bill’s
Tavern and Brewhouse will
always be a little different.
“There is something syn-
ergistic about this whole
space,” Oyala said. “You can
feel it. This is where peo-
ple who really love Cannon
Beach will come, because
they will feel it, too.”
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Warrenton Grade School students carry frozen turkeys from a walk-in freezer during an event on Tuesday to provide
boxes of food to families in need before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Hungry: Walmart donated $7,000 to help
Continued from Page 1A
students considered homeless
share housing with friends or
acquaintances out of need.
Debbie Morrow, chair-
woman of the Warren-
ton-Hammond School Board
and director of Healthy Kids,
said the Thanksgiving food
program started around the
same time after the group
learned a stark reality for
some of the district’s kids.
“We were told by a teacher
that kids absolutely hate and
are absolutely fearful of a
week off of school, contrary to
what we think, because they
weren’t going to have a meal,”
Morrow said.
Donated dinners, time
At Walmart’s groundbreak-
ing in Warrenton this summer,
the company donated $5,000
to the Clatsop Community
Action Regional Food Bank
and another $2,000 to War-
renton High School programs.
Ackley connected with a
Walmart manager at the event
who asked how the company
could help with Healthy Kids,
she said.
That resulted in 100 free
dinners worth of Thanks-
giving staples such as whole
turkeys, precooked turkey
breasts, mashed potatoes,
green beans, stuffing, buns
and brownie mix assembled
at the Walmart in Longview,
Washington.
“We didn’t have to buy
anything,” Morrow said, add-
ing some of the dinners were
tailored toward families with-
out adequate kitchens.
Helping pack the meals
into boxes Tuesday were Ian
McCormick and teammates
from a Warrenton Grade
School youth basketball team.
His team’s travel costs were
covered by a private donor
who only required “that we
do something for our commu-
nity,” McCormick said.
As a registered non-
profit, Healthy Kids can act
as the fiscal agent for other
efforts, such as a food back-
pack program Morrow said
the group is helping students
start in Knappa. Beyond food,
Healthy Kids helps provide
clothing, toiletries and other
staples for students in need.
The schools open early to
allow kids time to take show-
ers and do laundry, Mor-
row said, and Healthy Kids
has started a snack locker for
students at Warrenton High
School.
“We really have at Warren-
ton made a strategic effort to
not only identify homeless-
ness, but kids dealing with all
issues,” she said. “You can’t
educate a child when their
social and emotional needs are
not being met.”
More commonplace
Such programs have
become more commonplace
around the county, which
has suffered from a contin-
ually increasing rate of stu-
dent homelessness. Astoria
and Seaside school districts
both offer food backpack pro-
grams at elementary and mid-
dle schools. Schools have
also been offering lockers and
other areas for students to get
food and clothing discreetly.
Broadway Middle School
raised money and provided
30 Thanksgiving dinners for
its students. The school also
provides an area for kids to
go grab food or clothing dis-
creetly. Principal Robert Rust
said he is always impressed by
how the community steps up.
After the holidays end and
before the tourist-based econ-
omy picks up for the summer
is when the need becomes par-
ticularly acute, he said.
Christine Smith, a mother
of a student and board member
on the nonprofit Food for Kids
that serves Seaside students,
said the group now provides
weekend food backpacks for
more than 180 kids weekly on
average. Like other food back-
pack programs, theirs does
not extend into high school,
where Smith said another
challenge is getting past the
increasing stigma students
face in getting assistance.
“It’s an issue just getting them
to take it, even when you know
kids are sleeping on friends’
couches,” she said. “There’s a
pride you have to respect.”
Port: ‘Loss of railhead relegates the Port to mediocrity’
Continued from Page 1A
Brenna Visser/The Daily Astorian
Jacob Bond and Brian Raymond worked for two years
to open Cannon Beach Smokehouse Charcuterie & Bar.
A large contingent of long-
shoremen, the Port’s dockside
labor force, attended the meet-
ing. Local chapter President
Chris Connaway and Marvin
Kelley both spoke against the
departure.
“The bottom line is the loss
of the railhead relegates the
Port to mediocrity at best,”
Connaway said, listing prod-
ucts from steel to lumber that
could be shipped cheaper by
rail.
He implored the Port Com-
mission to look at the Port of
Grays Harbor in Aberdeen,
Washington, a riverside dock
with a rail spur and multiple
imports and exports.
Kelley argued the Port
could sublease North Tongue
Point to Hyack Maritime, still
make money and not lose the
asset.
Knight said the Port will
send a proposed lease termi-
nation document to Wash-
ington Development Co. for
negotiations.
“I can’t promise you at
this point that this is the final
accepted document, but it
does, for the Port, convince
our community and the land-
lord and the future boat-
builder of this community that
the Port is not trying to stop the
termination of the agreement,”
Knight said.
“We feel comfortable and
confident in their ability to
have a new employer in town
that will create jobs that I think
will become very important to
our community.”