"I was fed up with my childhood, my marriage, my military life, everything. I was a goner. There's only one place to go," said James Dresnok, the last US defector alive in North Korea. In August 1962, he stepped into the minefield and crossed over to North Korea.

Soon after his arrival, Dresnok met Larry Allen Abshier, another American defector. Eventually, there were four of them: Abshier, Jerry Parrish, Charles Robert Jenkins, and Dresnok. The men lived together and participated in several propaganda efforts on behalf of the North Korean government. They appeared on magazine covers and used loudspeakers to try to persuade more American soldiers at the border to defect. However, at first they did not wish to remain in North Korea indefinitely. In 1966, the four men tried to leave North Korea by seeking asylum at the Soviet embassy in Pyongyang, but were immediately turned over to North Korean authorities by the embassy. Afterwards, Dresnok decided to settle in North Korea and assimilate. He married a couple of times and is currently in failing health.