Larry Allen Abshier

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Private Larry Allen Abshier of the U.S. Army (1943 – July 11, 1983) was one of four American troops to defect to North Korea.

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[edit] Defecting

He was born in Urbana, Illinois. Private Abshier abandoned his post in South Korea in May 1962 when he snuck away from his base and crossed the DMZ into North Korea. He was, for several months, the only American in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, until Private James Joseph Dresnok defected in August.

In the 2006 documentary movie Crossing the Line, Dresnok recalls waking up to see a white face looking at him. "I opened my eyes. I didn’t believe myself. I shut them again. I must be dreaming. I opened them again and looked and, 'Who in the hell are you?' He says, 'I'm Abshier.' 'Abshier? I don’t know no Abshier.'"

Abshier, and the other three Americans, James Joseph Dresnok, Charles Robert Jenkins, and Jerry Wayne Parrish, starred in many propaganda films like Nameless Heroes, playing the evil Americans. Their participation in these films made them instant celebrities. Abshier and the other three became a propaganda bonanza, and pictures were leaked outside the country of the four living happily in paradise.

[edit] Life in North Korea

Charles Jenkins wrote in his book The Reluctant Communist that Abshier had difficulty conversing in Korean, but was fascinated by words and would spend hours studying high level vocabulary from newspapers. No one is sure whether Abshier lived happily, but Jenkins has said that the four were put in a one-room house where they lived together for several years and were forced to read and memorize passages by Kim Il Sung. Jenkins also claims that they were periodically beaten, particularly in the early years, and that Dresnok had frequently beaten up Abshier until Jenkins defended him, after which Dresnok transferred his animosity to Jenkins. Abshier, like Dresnok, Parrish, and Jenkins, was "given" a North Korean woman to be his cook and minder, and to have sex with him. These women were thought to all be infertile, having all divorced after a number of years of childless marriage. When Abshier's woman became pregnant, however, she was taken away.

Later, Abshier married another woman. In Crossing the Line, Dresnok claims she was Korean, but in The Reluctant Communist, Jenkins claims she was a Thai woman named Anosha who was given to Abshier by the North Korean government. Jenkins claims she was a former prostitute who had been working as a masseuse in Macau when she was abducted by North Korean agents and brought to North Korea. Shortly thereafter, in 1978, she was "given" to Abshier. Jenkins' account of her abduction was greeted with incredulity, until he produced a photograph of her in North Korea, opening up the possibility that North Korea has abducted citizens of other nations in addition to those of Japan. They had no children. After Abshier's death, Anosha was taken away, allegedly to marry a German.

[edit] Death

He died suddenly on July 11, 1983 at the age of 40 from a heart attack in Pyongyang. Jenkins wrote that he and Abshier were neighbors at the time, and Anosha called on him for assistance at the time of the incident. By the time Jenkins arrived on the scene, however, Abshier was already dead.

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