“My father was fully supported by Americans; my uncles participated in Vietnam as South Korean Marine officers,” said Lee, who is also a lieutenant commander in the South Korean Navy. “I was getting trained by Americans. Now I am doing my job with American soldiers stationed in South Korea. Is this not a great chain reaction?”

I spoke to Lee about the defector and his health at Lee’s office in the trauma center in Ajou. The office is decorated with photos of the hospital; many of them show him with American military officers, or feature American commendations, like the certificate he received from the White House physician in 2009 after a visit to South Korea from President Obama. A tall bookshelf in the middle of the room features a small black leather bible in front of massive tomes on trauma surgery. Behind the shelf lies a small, disheveled twin bed covered by an wrinkled brown blanket, where Lee sleeps four nights a week.

Lee walked me through the procedures he used to save the defector’s life, and spoke about how he handled his treatment. What follows is a condensed and edited transcript of our conversation.

Adam Serwer: Tell me about yourself. How did you end up examining the North Korean defector?

Cook Jong Lee: This trauma center was designed by American surgeons. I have been working with them as a part of their team since 2003. This is the only American-style trauma bay in South Korea. Whenever our service members, doctors, or crew members of the [the air medical evacuation team] or any kind of military officers first come into this trauma bay, they say it looks like America. It’s not that the South Korean trauma system is so superb to be able to save the North Korean. The reason we were able to save the North Korean’s life [is] just that I have been doing this job, not as a part of the South Korean military system, but as part of the American standout medical system.

Serwer: What kind of injuries did the defector have when you examined him?

Lee: He had at least five shots [to his body], coming from behind him. The inlets were in his back, and the outlets were in his front. One of the bullets came from the left side of his chest, so he had a tension pneumothorax [the gunshot wound had damaged his lung]. The staff sergeant overseeing put the needle thoracostomy in his shoulder and probably saved his life. Another bullet came through his buttock and shattered his pelvis and broke a lot of intestinal structures. Another bullet came from his right arm, [from] back to front, so he had a penetrating wound in his right arm. And another wound penetrated his knee as well. He was very fortunate it was not that deep. He had a huge amount of blood, and his intestinal space was totally contaminated, and to make matters worse he had the parasites.

Serwer: What do his pre-existing health problems say about life in North Korea?