Private First Class Larry Allen Abshier made a decision of incomprehensible permanence on May 28, 1962. Just 19-years old, he took off into the minefield-laden abyss of the Korean DMZ, running northward with reckless abandon. Stunned, American soldiers watched Abshier—the first U.S. soldier to defect to North Korea since the Korean War—disappear into a new life from which he would never return.

On June 13, North Korean radio announced Abshier's defection, saying he could no longer stand a "humiliating life” in the American military; "I was conscience-stricken by the behavior of the United States Army in South Korea,” the defector was quoted as saying in a later broadcast.