Oh became involved in political activism against the South Korean government in the early 1980s . He was influenced in this by a number of famous South Korean leftists in Germany , including Song Du-yul and Yun Isang ; they later suggested that he could help his motherland by working as an economist in North Korea . His activism also attracted the attention of North Korean government representatives , who further attempted to entice him to defect , claiming that his wife could receive free treatment for her hepatitis in Pyongyang . Over the objections of his wife , Oh took his family to North Korea , arriving on 8 December 1985 . Instead of receiving the promised medical treatment , he and his wife were held at a military camp and forced to study the '' Juche '' ideology of Kim Il-sung , then employed making propaganda broadcasts to South Korea . While there , he claims to have met South Korean abductees who were also employed making propaganda broadcasts , including two of the flight attendants from the Korean Air Lines YS-11 hijacking
Korean Air Lines YS-11 hijacking
Korean Air Lines YS-11 hijacking
Oh Kil-nam