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🇰🇷 South Korea /Culture & Society

North Korean defector Lee Woong-pyeong never touched his 1.56 billion won reward

From Dong-A Ilbo · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • Former North Korean pilot Lee Woong-pyeong received 1.56 billion won after defecting to South Korea in a MiG-19 in 1983.
  • He never spent the money, which at the time could have bought about 78 apartments in Seoul’s Gangnam district, intending to use it for his family after reunification.
  • Lee later learned that his sister had been imprisoned and other relatives had died in North Korea; he died of worsening cirrhosis in 2002 at age 48.

Lee Woong-pyeong became known in South Korea as an “anti-communist idol” after flying a MiG-19 to the country in 1983. He received 1.56 billion won from the government for handing over the aircraft and providing military intelligence, a sum then worth about 78 apartments in Seoul’s Gangnam district.

But Lee never spent a single won. He kept the reward for the day reunification might allow him to use it for the family he had left behind in North Korea.

His later life was marked by assassination threats from North Korea, surveillance by South Korean authorities and guilt over his separated family. After learning that his sister had been sent to a political prison camp and that other relatives had died, his chronic cirrhosis worsened. He died in 2002 at the age of 48. His story was revisited on the SBS television program “The Story of That Day That Bites Its Tail.”

About this summary

Originally published by Dong-A Ilbo in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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