Biography
Larry Allen Abshier was a U.S. Army private stationed in South Korea who left his post and crossed the demilitarized zone into North Korea on May 28, 1962. The evidence does not establish a developed political motive before his crossing. North Korea used Abshier and three later American deserters in propaganda, English instruction and films. Accounts from Charles Jenkins describe the men as closely controlled, subjected to compulsory ideological study and unable to leave. Abshier remained in North Korea until his death from a heart attack in Pyongyang on July 11, 1983.
