Joseph T. White

Joseph T. White (November 5, 1961 – August, 1985) born in St. Louis, Missouri, was a private in the United States Army who defected to North Korea on August 28, 1982. A member of 1/31st Infantry, he shot the lock off one of the gates leading into the Korean Demilitarized Zone and was witnessed surrendering to North Korean troops by fellow U.S. soldiers. He was the last of the six known Americans to defect after the end of the Korean War.

North Korean authorities refused a request by UNC representatives to meet White and ask him about the reasons for his defection. North Korean authorities released a video in which White, looking uncomfortable, denounced the United States' "corruptness, criminality, immorality, weakness, and hedonism," claiming he had defected to demonstrate how "unjustifiable [it was] for the U.S. to send troops to South Korea." As White's speech was written in stilted, unnatural-sounding English, it is widely considered that it was written by North Koreans and not by him.

Prior to White's defection, Charles Jenkins was the last U.S. soldier to cross the demilitarized zone into North Korea. (Roy Chung, who deserted after Jenkins but before White, did not cross the DMZ but instead defected to East Germany and later arrived in North Korea.) Jenkins wrote in his memoirs that he never met White, but once saw him on state television at a hastily prepared press conference soon after the defection.

He also wrote that plans were in the works for White to share housing with one of the other American defectors, but it eventually fell through. According to Jenkins' government minders, White suffered an epileptic seizure of some form and was left paralyzed. Following that, Jenkins heard nothing more about him.

In February 1983, White's parents received a letter from their son, stating that he was happy in North Korea and working as an English teacher. Then, on November 5, 1985, the day of White's 24th birthday, his parents received a letter penned by one of White's North Korean friends, stating that their son had died by drowning in Ch'ongch'on River earlier that year in August. Despite the family's requests, White's body was never returned; the letter did mention that White's body was never recovered from the water. The story of the letter conflicts with Jenkins' account of White's fate.