International Kidnappings by North Korea: The Beautiful Romanian Artist and the US Army Deserter

Abductions by North Korea were never a mystery to the world. Since the 1950s, scientists, politicians and skilled workers from South Korea were often kidnapped and forced to put their knowledge to the benefit of the regime. However in 2002, under the rule of Kim Jong-Il, North Korea admitted to also being responsible for snatching unsuspecting victims from Japan, Italy, and other countries. Their disappearances and treatment shocked the world, it was something like the plot from an action movie! 

In this post, we will cover the disappearance of Doina Bumbea, a Romanian painter taken from Italy, and the man who she was forced to marry, James Dresnok, a US soldier and deserter to North Korea. 

JAMES JOSEPH DRESNOK 

From a young age, James' life was in turmoil. He was born in Richmond, Virgina in USA on November 24, 1941. His parents were Joseph and Margaret Dresnok. They were quite poor and often fought over money. When James was younger, his mother left their father and took James and his brother, and drove for hours every day. The family became homeless. They moved around, periodically stopping in some town where his mother would sell her body on the street. She would be drinking the earned money away every evening in some bar. The two young boys would be left alone in the car for hours, waiting for their wayward mom. 

Richmond, Virginia in 1950s

After some time, Margaret's family tracked them down in Atlanta, Georgia, and took the boys away. Eventually, she lost custody of her sons, as she was unfit to be taking care of two small children. James' father, Joseph, refused to take care of them as a single father. So, the young children ended up being taken care of by their dad's relatives. James went to live with Joseph's sister, and his brother went to live with an uncle. His aunt was really angry that she had to take care of her brother's son, and made it abundantly clear she did not want him there. The abhorrence was felt by James, and it made him run away multiple times.

After being caught running away yet again, James was returned to his father. His aunt was completely fed up with him and his antics. In the time they were away, Joseph remarried to a younger woman. James' brother already returned to their father's house. Unfortunately, Joseph lied to his new wife and said that he only had one son. So, when James turned up, his new stepmother became livid that there was another mouth to feed, and it caused arguments in the home. The next day, Joseph took James to an old folks home, a few towns away, on the pretense that they were going to visit an old relative. Joseph told his son to wait for him in the reception area, and left. He didn't come back. 

James was now an orphan. His mother left, his father abandoned him. He had nowhere to go. Instead of asking for help from the staff or folks living at the home, he ran away. He stole 20 dollars and then found a bike and stole it, too. James was found by police and was almost put in a detention center and branded a juvenile delinquent. Fortunately, he was allowed to stay in a foster home run by a pastor, affectionately known as Big Papa by the kids. It was located in Glen Allen, Virginia. The foster home was the first place where James felt wanted and comfortable to stick around. 

At 17-years-old, James left high school and decided to find a job. His prospects were limited due to his poor schooling and young age. So the best option for him was to enlist in the army. James thought that working for the army would give him opportunities for freedom, travelling, and having a solid career path. However, this was not to be. The army controlled every aspect of James' life, they made the decision of where he would be sent, and for how long. It was strict and had a lot of regulations that every soldier had to follow to the dot. 

James Dresnok as a young soldier 

This made James realise that what he actually wanted was to settle down, have a family and build the kind of life that his parents never provided for him. So, on a short leave from the army he went back to Virginia. There he met a lady, Kathleen Ringwood. They met at church and they knew each other briefly before tying the knot. James was 18-years-old. At the same time, the army sent James for two years to West Germany on his first tour. He was there for so long that his wife had an affair and fell in love with another man. She sent him a rather cold, ruthless letter stating she found a new lover and wanted to divorce him. 

The embittered James returned to Virginia to sign divorce papers, and to inform his wife that he never cheated on her. In the two years that he was stationed overseas, there were many opportunities to sleep with prostitutes and local women, but James stayed celibate for his wife, out of respect and love for her. Without any ties to USA, no reason to live essentially, he decided to enlist for another tour in the army. This time he was sent to South Korea and the DMZ, Demilitarized Zone. 

The Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ for short, is a long strip of land that runs between South and North Korea on the 38th parallel north. 

On August 15, 1962, James decided he had enough and defected. He was sweet with a local Korean escort, and requested leave to met her. This wasn't granted, so he forged his CO's signature on the permission slip and left anyway. Facing a court martial for is disobedience, Dresnock went AWOL. He ran across a mine field, at lunch time, into North Korean territory and was surrounded with a squad of North Korean soldiers pointing bayonets and rifles in his face. 

The NK soldiers took him away to their compound. He was left alone is a small room. The next morning Dresnock woke up to a voice calling out his name, ''Dresnock, Dresnock...''. James thought he was dreaming, and ignored it. However, he woke up to a face peering at him. Another American who defected, Larry Allen Abshier. They were later joined by two other US defectors: Jerry Parish and Charles Robert Jenkins. 

The four defectors in NK propaganda pictures 

The four men settled in a compound outside Pyongyang. The first six months of their defection was spent like a long holiday: smoking, drinking, playing games, walking, and sitting in the sun reading books. They were taught how to speak Korean and were taught the North Korean philosophy of Juche, They also participated in propaganda by appearing in NK media and talking through loudspeakers to try to entice other US defectors to come, and also encouraged them to bring weapons or valuable information. 

Juche is the official ideology of the DPRK, that was invented by Kim Il-Sung in the 1950s. It promotes the idea that ''man is master of his destiny'' and promotes self-reliance. The current concept came about after the Soviet Union collapse and DPRK was unable to provide everyone with food, shelter and jobs as promised under a more Marxist ideal. By saying that people should be self-reliant and ''masters of their destiny'', Kim Il-Sung washed his hands of being responsible of the North Korean people and their basic needs. 

Dresnock and the other three defectors were getting tired of sitting around. While it was nice that they were provided with everything, they were not allowed to interact with the North Korean people. They had minders coming daily to check if they needed something, and it was brought to them. If they wanted to visit somewhere, they would be chauffeured there. And being young men, they were also missing the company of women. 

The four Americans adopted a military rank system, with Jenkins at the lead as he had the highest rank, Sergeant.  Abshier and Parish were happy with this as they were used to being told what to do, but this more than angered James because the reason of his defection was precisely to not be told what to do. He and Jenkins got in a fist fight one day, once punch was exchanged from James to Jenkins. After that, there was some kind of peace. 

In 1966, the men went to the Soviet embassy and asked for asylum. However, the Russians rejected them and turned them over to the North Koreans immediately. Instead of facing punishment for trying to leave, the North Koreans felt bad for not treating the four men better. They decided that they will try to find jobs for them. And providing jobs they did! 

1978, the Americans were cast in North Korean propaganda films. James Dresnock played the character of Arthur Cockstud, an American villan. They became celebrities all over North Korea, and James was frequently called ''Arthur'', based on the name of his character. Other jobs he had was teaching English at the Foreign Studies university course in Pyongyang and translating some of Kim Il-Sung's writings into English. 

One evening, while he was at a restaurant, James saw a beautiful brunette sitting at another table. He immediately felt his heart race and was head over heels for this woman. She was encouraged to come over and talk to him, and soon after they got married and had two boys. Their sons, Theodore Dresnock born in 1980, and James Dresnock born in 1982. The woman was Doina Bumbea, Romanian artist and missing woman. She was said to be working at the Romanian embassy in Pyongyang, but soon it was revealed that her arrival into North Korea was more sordid then James thought. 

DOINA BUMBEA

Doina Bumbea was born on 25 January 1950 in Bucharest, Romania. She lived during Communist times in Romania, and left legally in 1970 to Rome, Italy after meeting and marrying an Italian man. Leaving legally meaning that she immigrated to Italy with the government's permission, because during the time of Nicolai Ceausescu, Romanian citizens could not leave the country without good reason or governmental decree. 

In 1972, she studied Fine Arts at the Accademia Belle Arti in Rome. She studied there for 3 years, and enjoyed a prestigious and esteemed education. Her degree, and natural talent, allowed her to establish herself as a popular artist in the Italian scene at the time. She had a degree of fame, and was routinely holding exhibitions around Rome. 

One day, in the autumn of 1978, an unknown male friend of Doina's proposed to her a very enticing offer. He asked if she wanted to go to Tokyo, Japan to be a curator and hold her own exhibition at an art gallery in the Japanese capital. The contract was too good to pass, and Doina readily agreed. We can imagine for the Romanian woman, this was an adventure of a lifetime. At this time, Doina was separated from her first Italian husband, from Bolognia, so she was single and free to explore the world and pursue her dreams of being a world-famous artist. 

She packed her bags and went on the first leg of the journey through Moscow, Russia. Then, Doina and the mysterious Italian male friend boarded a plane to Pyongyang. The plan was to go through the North Korean capital and then continue on to Tokyo. This was because the mysterious man gave her a passport that was issued by the North Korean authorities. After landing in Pyongyang, Doina would not continue her journey onward, but be arrested at the airport and taken to a training camp. 

In North Korea, Doina was put in a paramilitary training camp. There she learned martial arts, Juche idealism, North Korean language and general brainwashing by the North Korean regime. Doina had no choice but to cooperate and follow her captors orders. She met James Dresnock on that ill-fated evening at the restaurant and was forced to marry him. It is revealed that James used to beat Doina and treat her badly, although these allegations were never confirmed. James said that Doina would not be straightforward about where she came from, only stating to him that her nationality was from somewhere in Eastern Europe. However, Doina's brother, Gabriel Bumbea, reveals that both her sons know where their parents are from and that they are aware of Doina's family in Romania. 

Gabriel Bumbea 

Doina passed away in January 1997 from pulmonary cancer. Her body was burned as she didn't want to be buried in North Korea, the people who captured her and ruined her life. At least, this wish was respected by James. However, her ashes were disposed of quickly to Charles Jenkins, as James did not want to keep them around the house. Charles kept them for two months in his home, with the intention to spread them out to sea. That never happened. 

Dresnok and Jenkins in 2000s

There were many queries made by the Romanian government to North Korea to clarify the situation in regards to Doina's case. DPRK has ignored all requests. 

THIRD MARRIAGE AND DEATH

After Doina's passing, James Dresnock went on to have a third wife. Her name has not been made public, but there is a bit known about her past. She was the daughter of a North Korean mother and Togolese diplomat father. As she was a mixed-race born woman, the North Korean regime saw her as unworthy to marry a North Korean man, so they offered her to James. They had a son called Tony in 2001 and were married until James' death in November 2016.

It was revealed in August 2017, by Dresnock's sons, that their father died one year earlier from a stroke. In the same statement, they revealed that their father told them to remain loyal to Kim Jong-un and the DPRK. They also said that they would not hesitate to ''destroy'' the US if they ever attacked North Korea. 

Theodor and Gabriel Dresnok

CONCLUSION

I find North Korea fascinating and horrifying at the same time. It's known as the hermit kingdom for a reason, because we don't really know what they are ever up to, or what is happening in the country. However, slowly there is information leaking from defectors and these released kidnap victims. It's sad how in Bumbea's case, her family wasn't aware what happened to her until decades later. Imagine her poor mother, thinking everyday of what happened to her daughter, and whether she was still alive. And now, she knows that there are these two surviving grandsons, but they are not in touch with their mother's family at all. This may be because they are brainwashed to be loyal to the North Korean regime. Or, maybe they are scared to go against the DPRK, in case they get killed or thrown in a concentration camp. 

Doina's story intrigued, and touched me, because we are both the same nationality. I also grew up in Bucharest, for a short time, albeit a few decades later than Doina. Maybe there is some hope in the future, if the two Koreas make peace, or if the Kim regime topples, that Theodor and Gabriel Dresnock will make contact with their Romanian relatives and provide some details of their life in North Korea, and in turn, learn more about their mother's life in Romania and Italy before she was so savagely kidnapped by the DPRK. 

Let us know what you think of this story and share opinions on the atrocities of the DPRK and the Kim regime in the comments below. Stay tuned for our future post which will cover the missing Japanese victims that were abducted by the North Koreans, in a bid to have them teach NK secret agents how to blend in Japanese society. 

References

• https://italicsmag.com/2020/04/17/italians-kidnapped-in-north-korea/
• BBC North Korea Crossing the Line -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd2dCk3N8cE
• https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/400381/n-korea-kidnap-victim-brother-wants-pyongyang-to-come-clean
• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42321400
• https://faroutliers.blogspot.com/2007/03/doina-bumbea-romanian-abducted-to-north.html