A Three Hour Tour?

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip…

Hwang Hong Ryon returned to South Korea April 18 after an eventful vacation. Leaving Sokcho April 13 in a drunken stupor (something Hwang was quick to mention upon his return to the south), Hwang piloted his fishing boat, Hwangman-ho, north, braving a “hail of bullets and shells fired by the south Korean army,” as the [North] Korean Central News Agency put it, and eventually arriving in a North Korean port, where he was investigated “by a competent institution,” KCNA reported.

Well, five days later, here comes Hwang and Hwangman-ho, delivered to two 250 ton South Korean patrol boats by the North Koreans. His statement to the press upon returning to South Korea; “I'm happy to be back, I was so intoxicated that I went over [to North Korea] under the influence of alcohol.” And off he was whisked for an interrogation likely to be quite a bit more intense than those given by “a competent institution” in the North.

Best of luck to Hwang, and welcome home. Hopefully, when the NIS and military get done with him, he wont be wishing he had simply stayed in North Korea when he had the chance…