N. Korea blames S. Korean TV show of NK defectors

“We are coming to see you,” a popular program on the Dong-A Ilbo`s broadcast station Channel A, is a fabricated show designed to slander on the communist regime by hiring professional actors and ethnic Korean-Chinese immigrants living in Seoul, North Korea claimed. Experts say that Pyongyang seems to be worried that the stories told by North Korean defectors might hurt the Stalinist regime.

Kang Gyeong-suk, a North Korean defector who went back to the North, appeared Friday on a North Korean TV program titled, “Talk with people came back after being kidnapped by South Korea” and said, “In Seoul, there’s a show in which actors play roles of beautiful women from North Korea.” She added that the show of Channel A must have hired six women who insist they are from North Korea. “One of the women claimed she defected from Gyongwon in North Hamgyong Province, but a defector from the area said the person didn`t know her. She must be a highly paid actor or an ethnic Korean-Chinese,” Kang added.

A source from the South Korean government said, “North Koreans watch Korean TV shows using USB memory sticks. North Korea must be aware that the ‘We are coming to see you’ show could exert more powerful effect to its people than any other programs from the South. That’s why the North intentionally added the detraction of the program.”

"We are coming to see you" has received awards including one from the unification minister and the Grand Award of Unification Broadcasting for helping people understand the reality of North Korea and for helping overcome prejudices against North Korean defectors.