North Korea Military Work With British Diplomat relates to a unique situation where a British diplomat had a close working relationship with the North Korean mlitary for a 6 month period would in itself raise more than a few eyebrows. Working for 3 years in North Korea was on the one hand a time of frustration and on the other a time of discovery in this fascinating yet enigmatic country.
Life In North Korea As A Foreigner Surviving 3 Years
Butting heads on a daily basis with the stifling North Korean bureaucracy was always a battle, but occasionally there was a glimmer of achievement and sometimes from the most unlikeliest of sources.
In early 2004, I was contacted at the embassy in Pyongyang by the brother of an RAF pilot who had been shot down in 1952 over North Korea during the Korean war. He said he had full details of the shoot down supplied by eyewitness United States Air Force (USAF) pilots and map coordinates of the site of the crash (which he sent to me) and wished to visit the area to discover the fate of his brother.
The background was that the pilot, Flt Lt Desmond Hinton, who received the Distinguished Flying Cross in World War II for shooting down two Japanese fighters had bailed out of his burning F84e Thunderjet whilst carrying out a strafing mission north east of Pyongyang on 2 January 1952. At the time, Flt Lt Hinton was one of a number of RAF pilots who were attached to and flying with the USAF. Despite enquiries after the war and with no further information as to his fate forthcoming, Flt Lt Hinton was subsequently officially listed as missing in action.
This seemed a daunting request, but nevertheless I submitted it to the North Koreans and having gone through the usual long and tortuous channels I was surprised to receive an invitation to a meeting with senior North Korean military officers to discuss the request. Soon after therefore, it was with some degree of trepidation that I and my interpreter set off to meet these senior officers at a large military base on the outskirts of Pyongyang.
Driving into the base, we stopped at the entrance guard house and I was told to leave my diplomatic vehicle parked there. Then my interpreter and I climbed into a small military vehicle with an officer who my interpreter told me would be our liaison officer for the visit.