By Markus Bell and Sarah Chee 

In every way, Yu Woo-seong was a model defector. In his early 30s, he was smart, friendly, ambitious and well-liked. Although trained as a doctor in North Korea, upon arrival in the South he eschewed the competitive South Korean medical school system and instead pursued a bachelor’s degree in business and Chinese at a prominent Seoul university.

Despite the fact that he had been in South Korea for less than six years, Yu managed to work through his university studies while adapting remarkably well to his new environment, finishing his bachelor’s degree in 2011.